The Black Phone (2022).

The Stage.

It’s 1978 in a Denver suburb, and a kidnapper known as The Grabber has just taken his sixth victim. The basement in which he’s being kept is dark and bare, with only a bed and a non-functioning black phone mounted on the wall…that all of a sudden rings.

The Review.

Scott Derrickson has mainly been known for his small-ish budget horror films like The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister, and Deliver Us From Evil, so I was pretty excited to hear that he was coming back to the genre after he directed the first Doctor Strange film for Marvel. He also co-wrote the film with frequent collaborator C. Robert Cargill, which only raised my expectations. The script is based on the short story of the same name by Stephen King’s son Joe Hill, which appeared in the 2004 short story compilation called 20th Century Ghosts. I had not read the book and went in completely blind, so aside from the great looking poster, I didn’t have any idea what to expect.

Almost instantly, we get splash text telling us that it’s 1978. I don’t know why, but I’m really drawn to movies set in the 70’s and 80’s. It’s almost becoming too challenging to create horror films set in the modern day, as security cameras and cell phones have made stories like this all but impossible. We open on a Little League game as Finney, our main character, gives up a game winning dinger to Bruce, the neighborhood adonis. Slowly, we’re introduced to several kids in the neighborhood, including Gwen, Finney’s sister, Robin, a badass hispanic boy who idolizes Bruce Lee, and a few other bullies. We’re also introduced to The Grabber, a top hat wearing, black van driving kidnapper.

Gwen, Finney’s sister, is pulled in by police. It seems that she knows some details about the Grabber that the cops haven’t shared. She has vivid dreams that give her insight into the crimes. Her gift will end up being a necessity when her brother goes missing. The majority of the film after the first act is spent between brother and sister, one trying to figure a way out of the dungeon he’s trapped in, and one trying to decode her dreams to find him. There’s also a black phone on the wall that supposedly doesn’t work, but somehow connects Finney with other children who had previously been taken by The Grabber.

Mason Thames plays Finney, and he’s good in the role but didn’t knock my socks off. There weren’t any acting moments that took me out of the film, but I never had one of those, “This kid is going to win an Oscar some day.” thoughts. I did have that moment with Madeleine McGraw, however, who plays Gwen. She stole every scene she was in, whether it be with hilarious lines like calling the cops “dumb fucking fart knockers”, or portraying agony and fear. There’s a scene in which her drunk, abusive dad wails on her with a belt and the cries she emits were honestly the scariest thing in the film. Ethan Hawke, plays The Grabber. He’s only on screen for a total of maybe ten minutes, but he’s awesome as this maniacal kidnapper. He has a really cool two piece mask that changes with his mood and some unique looks to go with it.

The film isn’t horror as much as it is a thriller, but the tone really worked for me. Really the only thing that didn’t work for me was the supernatural aspect. I have read some theories online that Gwen, Finney, their mother, and The Grabber all have “The Shine”, which many characters in Stephen King’s books possess. Think of it as characters who have a sensitivity to the supernatural or the macabre. Unfortunately, the otherworldly aspects of the film are never explained or delved into. I’d have enjoyed more. If the supernatural aspects were taken out altogether, I think the film could still work with remnants and clues left behind by past guests. I’m actually glad we didn’t get more of an explanation to The Grabber, however - I think it was nice just to have some creepy villain without a backstory to humanize him.

The End.

The Black Phone is a very solid kidnapping thriller with a typical great performance by Ethan Hawke and a star making performance by Madeleine McGraw. It will keep you on edge and never gets gratuitous or over the top. Aside from one moment in which the protagonist almost gets free, the characters have pretty decent decision-making skills, which is always affects my