It was another trip to Cineworld in Broughton to finally get to check out The Black Phone starring Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Jeremy Davies, James Ransone and Ethan Hawke.
The Black Phone sees director Scott Derrickson returning to his terror roots and partnering up again with the foremost brand in the genre, Blumhouse, with a new horror thriller, which I have to say for me is more thriller than horror.
Finney Shaw, a shy but clever 13-year-old boy, is abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of little use. When a disconnected phone on the wall begins to ring, Finney discovers that he can hear the voices of the killer’s previous victims. And they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney.
The first thing that I noticed about this movie was the new Blumhouse introduction which I have to say looks really good and certainly sets you up for The Black Phone, the movie really is a bit of a slow burner but this works well as we get to have a build-up of the main character Finney (Mason Thames) as he goes about his life being bullied in school and looking after his sister (Madeleine McGraw) and his alcoholic father (Jeremy Davies) who hit the bottle after the death of his wife.
We certainly get the feeling of the supernatural early on as Gwen (McGraw) seems to have the ability to foresee the future and she is confronted by the police in an early scene about the missing children that the “grabber” has abducted, but it’s not long before her brother Finney is taken by the masked abductor (Ethan Hawke).
With Finney locked in the cellar, he only has The Black Phone and calls from the previous murdered children to keep him company, but there is more to this than we first realise as each child calls him to help him through his captivity and to try and help him escape a fate such as the ones that had to endure.
Although the movie is tagged as a horror thriller, for me I would go more with the thriller side, OK there is a moment that will make some people jump but you really do see it coming, but let’s face it jump scares seem to be a little lacklustre in movies these days and The Black Phone uses the thriller side of it more to its advantage. There are some nicely shot scenes of the dead children helping Finney in a rather creepy way that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up to attention.
When it comes to the cast I would have to say that I really enjoyed four-time Oscar® nominee Ethan Hawke as the almost terrifying Grabber, with The Black Phone produced, directed, and co-written by Scott Derrickson, the writer-director of Sinister, The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Marvel’s Doctor Strange you do get that Sinister feel to many scenes.
The film’s screenplay is by Derrickson & C. Robert Cargill (Doctor Strange, Sinister franchise), based on the award-winning short story by Joe Hill from his New York Times bestseller 20th Century Ghosts. The film is produced by Derrickson & Cargill’s Crooked Highway and presented by Universal and Blumhouse. Jason Blum, Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill are producers of the film, which is executive produced by Ryan Turek and Christopher H. Warner.
The Soundtrack to The Black Phone really stood out for me right from the start with Mark Korven’s haunting and yet delightful music, if the name sounds familiar then you will have heard his work on The Witch and The Lighthouse. Korven’s work really brings the feeling of dread and fear to the scenes with the music that he has composed, and then there is a moment when we get a Pink Floyd track that is perfectly suited to the moment, I won’t spoil it for you, but suffice to say being a fan of Pink Floyd I had a big grin on my face.
The Black Phone isn’t going to be for everyone, but it’s Ethan Hawke’s performance of the grabber that I enjoyed watching, he just brings the character to life in a freakish way, also Mason Thames is brilliant as Finney and he is certainly one to keep an eye in future features.
Ethan Hawke gives a great performance as the Grabber
Movie title: The Black Phone
Movie description: After being abducted by a child killer and locked in a soundproof basement, a 13-year-old boy starts receiving calls on a disconnected phone from the killer's previous victims.
Date published: July 7, 2022
Country: UK
Duration: 1h 43m
Director(s): Scott Derrickson
Actor(s): Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Ethan Hawke
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
