The Black Phone is an adaptation of Joe Hill’s short story of the same name from director, Scott Derrickson, and his usual writing partner, C. Robert Cargill. It’s a horror-thriller set in the late 70s in a small town in Colorado where kids have been going missing, taken from what locals call “The Grabber” (Ethan Hawke). We follow a young brother and sister, Finney (Mason Thames) and Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), respectively, who are dealing with an abusive father (Jeremy Davies) on top of all the stress that comes with being in a community threatened by a child kidnapper. However, one day, Finney gets taken.
Somewhat luckily for him, instead of being killed, The Grabber simply locks Finney in a basement with the possible threat of death in the future, giving him time to figure things out. He realizes that a black phone, that supposedly doesn’t work, keeps ringing, and the voices of previous victims offer words of advice. Meanwhile, Gwen begins tapping into these strange dreams that she has always had, dreams that seemingly predict events in her life. She tries to hone in on them in hopes of finding some information that can help the police find Finney before it’s too late.
This marks Derrickson’s return to horror after his stint at Marvel with the first Doctor Strange and initial pre-production stages on the sequel before he left and Sam Raimi came on board for The Multiverse Of Maddness. His horror film prior to Doctor Strange, Deliver Us From Evil was back in 2014, and boy can you tell that Derrickson has missed this particular vibe. The film goes hard with its vintage sensibilities, and you can see how he’s grown as a filmmaker since the days of Sinister and Deliver Us From Evil. There’s a sense of restraint, yet firm control over the mood and atmosphere.
The Black Phone is a dark and ominous film from the get-go, with its scratchy film opening credits to the way it handles the character of The Grabber. Curiously enough, the film spends most of his screentime under the mask or his face otherwise obscured, so you could have almost gotten away with leaving Hawke’s name from the credits Se7en style, and have most of the audience not know who the guy was, unless if they were to recognize his voice. Even the bit from the trailer where he’s about to take Finney is in a more obscured angle so we don’t get a good look at his face. It’s a fascinating choice, and it adds to the mystery of the character quite a bit. I also love how they don’t really explain what the deal is with the mask, it’s just a creepy feature.
As a horror film, this is more about the mood than it is the scares. There are a few well handled jump scares, but nothing on the level of something like what Derrickson did with Sinister. Nothing ever jumps out at the camera, it’s all clever camera swings and reveals. The craft here is really on point, and easily the best in his filmography so far. I also have to give credit to cinematographer, Brett Jutkiewicz, editor, Frédéric Thoraval, production designer, Patti Podesta, and composer, Mark Korven, who all worked incredibly well to create a specific sense of place and atmosphere that managed to feel grounded, yet willing to get into weird, otherworldly areas like the whole dream element.
The two child actors in the center of it all are outstanding. As I was watching this, I almost felt like this was the anti-Stranger Things. Sure, this technically takes place before the era of that show, but I liked the way this film was more than willing to create this tough environment kids are constantly swearing, getting into fights, and pulling out knives in pinball related brawls. It’s absolutely wild, and not the kind of cutesy reference fest you would expect from a period genre piece involving younger characters. Thames and McGraw have a believable and endearing dynamic that makes you love them and root for them really fast, and considering how dark some of the material gets, it’s astonishing to see these actors tap into that in a seemingly authentic way.
While The Black Phone might not seem like an obvious throwback horror film, it does do the thing that many of the 70s and 80s studio horrors did so well, and that’s committing to the darkness and intensity but still retain a sense of fun, entertainment, and even bits of humor. This isn’t a trashy Blumhouse production (I mean, technically it is, but with a $16 million budget, this is clearly not one of their lesser productions), but it’s also not a meditative A24 mood piece, it’s just a sturdy, well crafted horror flick that clearly had the resources it needed in order to make the best and most immersive and intense experience possible. I don’t know if I’d call it “terrifying,” but I was deeply invested and I found myself thoroughly tensed up in numerous moments. Hawke delivers a truly memorable villain performance as well. It’s just a great movie to see with a crowd, as it plays with setups and expectations and payoffs really well, and though some minor nitpicks can be made, it’s a fairly tight film that does what it needs to do, and leaves you satisfied. I dug the hell out of it, and it’s one I think horror fans will enjoy as well.
The Black Phone is now out in theaters.