In the cinematic world, summertime is reserved for “blockbuster” movies featuring plenty of A-listers and giant budget films with tons of special effects.
Not to mention most of those flicks are also featuring action, comedy, or family-friendly fare.
‘The Black Phone’ fits into none of those genres and stands alone as one of the few horror/thriller movies to ramp up the creepiness factor with the perfect supernatural twist.
Then again, I might just be biased since I’ve been waiting for this film for almost a year.
The Black Phone is a supernatural horror film directed by Scott Derrickson and written by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, who both produced with Jason Blum.
It is an adaptation of the 2004 short story of the same name by Joe Hill – Stephen King’s son.
The film stars Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Jeremy Davies, James Ransone, Miguel Mora, Tristan Pravong, E. Roger Mitchell, Troy Rudeseal, Jacob Moran, and Ethan Hawke.
The Black Phone is 103 minutes long and is rated R for violence, bloody images, language and some drug use.
In 1978, a serial child abductor nicknamed “The Grabber” (Hawke) is prowling the streets of a Denver suburb.
Siblings Finney (Thames) and Gwen Shaw (McGraw) live in the area with their alcoholic widower father Terrence (Davies) who beats them.
At school, Finney is frequently bullied and harassed.
He strikes up a friendship with another kid, Robin (Mora), who fends off the bullies and encourages Finney to stand up for himself.
One of Finney’s friends, Bruce (Pravong), is abducted by The Grabber.
Gwen, who is able to have psychic dreams much like her mother before her suicide, dreams of Bruce’s kidnapping.
Curious as to how Gwen knows details of the kidnapping that they never released publicly, Detectives Wright (Mitchell) and Miller (Rudeseal) interview Gwen but struggle to believe her claims.
Then Robin is abducted by The Grabber.
Days later while walking home, Finney encounters The Grabber and is also abducted.
He awakens in a small, soundproofed basement and is terrified by the mask-wearing Grabber.
In the basement is a disconnected black phone that The Grabber says does not work.
Later, Finney hears the phone ring and answers it.
Bruce speaks to him, unable to remember his own name or what he did when he was alive.
He tells Finney about a floor tile he can remove to dig a tunnel under the foundation and escape.
The police search for Finney is unsuccessful.
The Grabber brings Finney some food and leaves the door to the basement unlocked.
Finney prepares to sneak out but is stopped by another boy on the phone called Billy (Moran).
He explains this is a game that The Grabber plays, and he is waiting upstairs to attack Finney if he leaves the basement.
Billy instructs him to use a cord he had found to get out via the basement window.
While climbing Finney ends up breaking the bars on the window preventing him from climbing back up.
Gwen dreams of Billy being abducted and confides in her father about what is happening.
Though each “ghost” child takes turns trying o help Finney get out, the Grabber doesn’t do anything but really taunt Finney while his sister struggles to find more clues in her dreams to save him.
Overall, it’s a very atmospheric movie that serves up a few unexpected jump scares and has Hawke playing a truly creepy villain.
It’s definitely worth the theater experience and serves as every parent’s worst nightmare on a silver platter.
Not to mention, there’s also hope for a sequel, should this film do well enough!
