The Black Phone - Movie Review

Critics Score - 7 of 10

General Audience Score - 8 of 10

With the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, many movie studios have added disclaimers to any films or TV shows that depict violence against children. The new season of Stranger Things 4 starts out with a disclaimer about the school shooting. I’m almost surprised that the new film from Universal, The Black Phone, was allowed to rollout on schedule, dropping into theaters less than one month after the previously mentioned tragedy. Not because it’s particularly bloody or overly violent, but the subject matter of violence, murder and kidnapping involving children is sure to touch a nerve with some audiences. The feeling of dread and the ominous tone the film carries through the first act may prove very unsettling for some and caution should be exercised by anyone sensitive to these elements. That being said, aside from the unnerving content, this film is engrossing. The way it’s able to sustain the tension keeps the suspense high throughout most of it’s hour and forty minute runtime. Although it’s predictable and follows some standard horror film beats, there’s no reason you can’t enjoy your next time at the movies, just pick up when The Black Phone rings.

SYNOPSIS - This trip back into 1970’s Colorado begins with a baseball game where Finn (Mason Thames) is trying to strike out Bruce (Tristan Pravong). Finn gets two strikes on him, but on the third pitch Bruce belts it out of the park, runs the bases and takes his team to victory. After the game while the teams shake hands, Bruce tells Finn, “Your arm is mint, you almost had me.” After the game, Bruce rides his bike around town, smiling at the girls and basking in the glow of his post baseball success while The Edgar Winter Group’s Free Ride plays. But the film’s tone makes a hard left as a black cargo van rounds the corner behind him, the terrific score’s title track kicks in with off-putting edgy techno beats and ticking time bomb sounds that immediately puts us on edge as the scene cuts away. It doesn’t take long for the feeling of dread to completely envelop the film, the grayish blue tint the movie lives in gives us the feeling of a dreary, overcast day. But as the story continues, we get back to Finn eating breakfast where him and his sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) are walking on eggshells around their physically abusive father Terrence (Jeremy Davies). The performances of the child actors are very good and continue to emphasize the malice towards children. From the bullying of the shy and timid Finn and the nightmares Gwen believes to be visions causing her father to last out against her in violence, physical threats to minor children seems to be an ever present theme the film was going for.

After more school sequences, eventually another boy goes missing who Gwen informs us, “He’s the toughest kid in school since The Grabber got the pinballer Vance Hopper.” The Grabber’s (Ethan Hawke) presence is felt in the film much earlier than when his actual face begins to appear onscreen. Hawke may not be doing any career defining work here, but his average performance is better than so many other actors. Even with his face being half masked for most of the film, his head movements and the way he twists his neck is simultaneously delightful and shiver inducing. Because we’re following Finn’s character, we can predictably expect The Grabber to eventually come after him. Once he does have Finn in his clutches, he takes him to a soundproofed basement where he’s taken the other kids before and the film rolls right into the second act. Finn and The Grabber begin to have some interactions, but soon the supernatural elements of the black phone on the wall beside the bed Finn sleeps in begin to present themselves. Without going too deep into spoilers, the film walks the line between suspense/thriller and horror pretty well. While it does go in for a couple decent jump scares, it doesn’t lean too much towards horror as much as it does focus on mainly delivering good suspense. And that it does with quite a bit of success.

Once The Black Phone gets disconnected because The Grabber kept forgetting to pay the bill, we come away from the film with what is ultimately a fairly straightforward story, a bit formulaic. Once the premise of the film has been revealed and explored a little, the screenplay begins following the standard formula for these types of films. The film doesn’t finish as well as it starts, it gets more conventional, especially into the third act but it tries it’s damnedest to explore other themes and be as unconventional, it just doesn’t succeed. It’s a common problem for creatives and studio executives to collide, and with a big name like Universal footing the bill, anything other than the ending anyone would bet on happening is unacceptable. The cinematography is standard fare for a Blumhouse feature, it does offer a few interesting stylistic camera choices but nothing truly impressive. The costume and production design, taking us back to the 1970’s, were also all well constructed and seamless, but not particularly outstanding. But the original score by Mark Korven, the same man behind The Lighthouse and The Witch, delivers an excellent piece of work that helped solidify the tension that the film’s other elements were escalating. While kids getting killed is always a touchy subject that a film needs to navigate delicately, The Black Phone goes easy on the audience by actually showing very little of that kind of violence. The threatening nature is the feature that saves it, not only from looking real bad in terms of what’s happening in the world, but also in delivering a very good suspense/thriller.

SUMMARY - I dislike using the term fun when describing a film about child abductions and violence towards minors. Despite it’s disconcerting premise and subject matter, this movie is a highly engaging and entertaining piece of cinema. The Black Phone is one line that, despite some of it’s connection issues, gets a collect call that critics and general audiences alike will be happy to accept the charges for.