With its first scene set at a little league baseball game in a small town on the outskirts of 1978 Colorado (knowing that some frightful elements will emerge throughout the film), The Black Phone may feel eerily similar to one of your favorite Stephen King novels. And if it does, it should, as the movie is based upon a novel by King’s son, Joe Hill. In addition, director Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange, The Exorcism of Emily Rose) reunites Ethan Hawke for the first time since 2012’s well-received horror Sinister.
The Black Phone has been well received by critics and audiences alike. Earning only slightly less ($23 million in its opening weekend) than the highly-marketed and Cannes Film Festival favorite Elvis ($31 million), while receiving Rotten Tomatoes scores of 84% (critics) and 89% (audiences), The Black Phone feels eerily similar to IT: Chapter Two, a 2019 film that earned $211 million at the box office and was the last movie of its kind to attain a payday this large before the pandemic shut theaters down in March 2020.
While Derrickson’s film will not come close to grossing $100 million, it will earn a sizable profit off of its $17 million budget. That is a step in the right direction as the film industry is recovering from two years of dwindling audiences and, truthfully, below-average movies. Films like Top Gun Maverick and Jurassic World Dominion have ushered the way as filmgoers have either felt safe to return or there was finally a movie they wanted to see. The Black Phone was released two weeks after Top Gun Maverick and one week after Jurassic World Dominion. While some of its success could be attributed to its release date, the film deserves credit for striking accord with critics and audiences.
Though I didn’t particularly love The Black Phone, I was wholly invested in its story from start to finish. It was an interesting story with well-defined characters. Our story takes place in 1978 in a small suburban town outside Denver. For the year, middle-school-aged school boys have been abducted by someone known as “The Grabber.” The only details that town law enforcement knows about this person are that they drive a van and that after a child goes missing, a bundle of half a dozen or so black balloons is found where the boy was last seen.
Our lead character is 13-year-old Finney (newcomer Mason Thames). He is a typical enough kid who plays little league baseball, enjoys his classes at school, and is a loving and protective brother of slightly younger sister Gwen (newcomer Madeleine McGraw) against their abusive, alcoholic father, Terrence (Jeremy Davies – ABC’s Lost, F/X’s Justified). He’s a victim of bullying (a theme that seems to follow many of the heroes penned by his father) at school, but not so much a loner as he is lonely. He has girl crushes, and kids outside the bullying circle seem to like him well enough. One student, Robin, is a skilled fighter who sticks up for Finney. But, of course, Robin is one of the boys who go missing.
Without giving a whole lot away, Finney is The Grabber’s subsequent capture. At this point, we discover (through Finney’s eyes and hears) precisely what the boys go through after they disappear. In a way, The Black Phone is a very how will the hero escape run-of-the-mill type of suspense. There wasn’t a whole lot of tension. There were two or three jump scares, but, as a whole, it wasn’t scary. There was undoubtedly an element of supernatural, though I didn’t love it. It felt too convenient. When it needed to have a supernatural element, a supernatural element appeared. At other times, we were supposed to take things at face value.
My problems with The Black Phone appear through the lens of a critic. I struggle with movie inconsistencies, particularly how they relate to human emotion. It is difficult to feel fear, empathy, hope, or a variety of other emotions when the characters themselves do not feel these same emotions. My problem with this movie is that kids are being snatched up in a small town, yet everyone keeps on living their lives as if nothing has happened. This is particularly true with how it relates to our main character and his family. Finn goes missing, and while Terrence and Gwen are rightfully worried, they continue their daily routines. We can assume that Finn will never be found, as none of the other five boys has ever been found.
The Black Phone feels like Stephen King or M. Night Shyamalan could have written it. Both men love the supernatural and are excellent storytellers, but sometimes seem like they are the most intelligent person in the room. In their creative works, each often tries to piecemeal a story together, using clues and snippets to arrive at some conclusion that gives their audience an “ah-ha” moment, whether it makes sense or not. When it works, it’s fantastic. When it fails, it does so in a miserable fashion.
There was a lot of hype for a movie that failed to deliver.
Plot 7/10
Character Development 7/10
Character Chemistry 7/10
Acting 5.5/10
Screenplay 6/10
Directing 6/10
Cinematography 10/10
Sound 7/10
Hook and Reel 8.5/10
Universal Relevance 7/10
71%
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