Rated: MA15+
Directed by: Scott Derrickson
Screenplay Written by: Scott Derrickson & C. Robert Cargill
Based on the Short Story by: Joe Hill
Produced by: Jason Blum, Scott Derrickson, C. Robert Cargill
Executive Produced by: Ryan Turek, Christopher H. Warner
Starring: Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Jeremy Davies, James Ransone and Ethan Hawke.
‘Would you like to see a magic trick?’
It’s 1978. Finney Shaw (Mason Thames) is pitching a baseball, trying to impress a girl.
With two strikes, he almost does it.
He lives with his dad (Jeremy Davies) and little sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw).
Their dad drinks. Finny and Gwen are tense.
Kids in town are going missing. And they all know why. It’s the Grabber (Ethan Hawke). He’s taking them.
What drew me into this film was how cool the kids are – this is a movie about them; a crime, supernatural horror where kids are being kidnapped and a black phone that’s dead but still ringing.
The film is based on the short story written by, Joe Hill, Stephen King’s son and a great horror writer in his own right, see, 20th Century Ghosts (2005), short fiction piece, Best New Horror – a unique voice that’s haunting and has a punk horror feel about it. There’s also the novel, Heart Shaped Box (2007) and others worth checking out. Yes, I’m a fan with signed copies.
Adapted for the screen by director Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill (Sinister (2012), The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) and Doctor Strange (2016)), it’s like there’s a window into what it’s like growing up in a small town in Denver: bullies, parents, crushes. Serial Killers.
Gwen as the little sister is hilarious with her little skips of excitement and comments like, ‘Dumb fucking fart knockers.’
Not only is she a fire-cracker, she has a gift. Her dreams show her things she’s not supposed to know, like, The Grabber has black balloons.
So when her brother’s taken, she prays to God for her dreams to show her where he’s been taken. And desperate, the cops listen because no-one else knows about those black balloons.
The suspense is built by slowing the shots, the words silent, the sound of sinister amplifying the quiet to give a moment to feel, to then screech a sudden shot to a dead kid, to get the heart pumping. There’re some jumps here, layered over the suspense so, The Black Phone creates a suspense thriller without the gore.
There’s a lot of thought here from director Scott Derrickson with cuts back and forth when Finney realises he’s trapped in basement, where no-one will ever hear him scream.
There’s good use of objects from the creepy mask of the killer to create an other-worldly monster, the toy rocket ship like a talisman, the crack in the wall of the prison like a bleeding cut. And of course, the black telephone. The ringing built in the soundtrack like the sound of a saviour.
There’s a careful stepping as each piece of the story come together, each given space and care and more thought than I expected. And there’s restraint to let the performances of the characters become the focus.
Where do they find these kid actors?!
And there’s good support from Jeremy Davies as the dad and ‘night-night naughty boy’ Ethan Hawke suitably creepy as, The Grabber.
A better than expected suspense, supernatural thriller with thoughtful pacing set to a 70s vibe.