The Black Phone (movie review)

A taught suspense movie that focuses on the victims of a serial killer.

I recently watched the movie The Black Phone which is an adaptation of Joe Hill’s story The Black Phone from his 2005 short story collection 20th Century Ghosts.

The Set Up

Finney (Mason Thames) and Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) are brother and sister in a Denver, Colorado suburb. The year is 1978 and they’re 13 and 11 respectively. Finney is capable if a bit timid, and Gwen has dreams that she thinks might be more than dreams. Both children are constantly worried about upsetting their drunkard father, Terry (Jeremy Davies), who is wallowing in his own sorrow after the death of the children’s mother.

Finney is worried about bullies at school, but luckily for him he’s backed up by the toughest kid in the school, Robin Arellano (Miguel Mora). Gwen is also willing to step in and help since the only thing she seems to fear is her own father.

Unfortunately, boys around Finney’s age have been disappearing in the local area, never to be seen again. The Grabber (Ethan Hawke) is what the kids call whoever is taking them. The police are so desperate for leads that they visit Gwen after she mentions black balloons she saw in a dream when talking to the sister of one of the missing boys. The police have never publicly stated that crime scene detail so it caught their attention when she knew about it. Their visit upsets Terry to the point of violence, and he wants Gwen to believe that her dreams are just dreams.

Then Robin disappears. Finney disappears shortly after Robin. While Finney is in The Grabber’s control, the black phone of the title starts to ring, and Finney answers it.

The Characters

Finney is a smart kid yet he seems to be afraid to fight back any time he’s dealing with the bullies. The shared frustration and fear that he and Gwen feel around their father creates a strong bond between them. Gwen protects Finney in public, and he tries to protect and be there for her in private.

Robin is a tough kid that takes on the biggest kids when he thinks it’s necessary. He’s the closest thing to a friend that viewers see for Finney.

The only other character that gets much development is Terry. His drinking is explained as him grieving the loss of his wife. Unfortunately, his kids suffer for it because the drinking and his own fears result in him treating them poorly.

Though The Grabber gets a lot of screen time, his background is left intentionally vague (according to this article). Only a few brief comments from The Grabber’s unsuspecting brother, Max (James Ransone), give much info on The Grabber’s background.

The Acting

I thought the acting was pretty good across the board. There was one scene that really stood out to me. In the scene, Gwen is really upset about what is happening and either the actress (McGraw) was actually upset about something, or she really knows how to act it out incredibly well.

The Writing

The Black Phone had a lot of well-written scenes, from the opening when a baseball rival talks to Finney to the last bit of screen time with Terry. Every piece of action and dialogue serves a purpose in the movie. However, if the viewer doesn’t pay attention to the dialogue, it’s possible they’d miss the explanation for something because the writer’s don’t repeat themselves much in this movie.

Rating

This is one of the better movies I’ve ever seen this year. My wife wouldn’t watch it with me (she doesn’t do horror), but there aren’t any of the jump scares that are often associated with horror movies, so I see this as more of tense thriller.

I’d give The Black Phone a rating of 5 out of 5 stars and recommend anyone watch it. For those interested in the short story it’s based on, that is highly recommended as well because I gave it 5 out of 5 stars, too.