The Black Phone (2022) Review

 "Hang up the phone!"

-The Grabber

Finney (Mason Thames) is abducted by a serial killer known as the Grabber (Ethan Hawke).  Locked in the basement, Finney's situation seems hopeless until a broken phone starts to ring.  The spirits of the Grabber's previous victims talk to Finney through the phone and want to help him escape.

What Works:

Let's get the obvious out of the way.  Everyone is talking about how great Ethan Hawke is as the Grabber, and they're right.  Hawke is terrific and terrifying.  He's a fantastic villain and wonderfully unpredictable.  We've seen this type of character in plenty of movies, but Hawke makes it his own.

The other standout performance of the film comes from Madeleine McGraw as Finney's sister, Gwen.  At first I thought she might just be the goodie-two-shoes, younger sister character.  Nope!  She has the foulest mouth I've seen on a child character in a long time.  She drops some excellent curse words at multiple characters, both kids and adults.  It's awesome.  If they make a sequel, I hope Gwen is the protagonist.

The script is also really tight.  Everything that happens in the basement is nicely setup and pays off in the 3rd act.  At times, the story felt a little all-over-the-place, but by the end of the movie, it tied back together in a satisfying way.

Finally, I just love the tone of this film.  It's genuinely creepy and reminded me of the movie Sinister, which was directed by Scott Derrickson, who directed this as well.  I love how Gwen's dreams are shot and the movie as a whole reminds me of kidnapping cautionary tales I heard as a kid.

What Sucks:

There is some very funky dialogue in this movie.  I don't know if it's similar to the dialogue from the short story or not.  If that's the case, it's another example of written dialogue not necessarily translating to the screen.

This movie has a lot of supporting characters, most of whom are kids.  I don't like ripping on child actors very much.  It's not their fault.  I put the blame on casting and the director.  Some of the kids do a good job...but not all of them.  I'm not going to name names.  You can watch for yourself and form your own opinion on that front.

Finally, it feels like the movie was missing one aspect to fully pull it all together.  This a supernatural film and from the way the deceased kids talked about the Grabber, it almost seemed like there was something larger at stake than just Finney escaping.  I don't know.  It's hard to explain, but the movie felt like it needed one more reveal in the 3rd act to really tie the film together emotionally.  I'll have to go read the short story and see if it's different in that way.

Verdict: 

The Black Phone is a solid and creepy horror film, thanks to great performances from Ethan Hawke and Madeleine McGraw and some tight storytelling.  There were parts that I wish were expanded more and some clunky dialogue and performances, but I would still say this movie is definitely worth watching.

 7/10: Good