The Black Phone Review

Modern horror director Scott Derrickson with Ethan Hawke brings us the supernatural and psychological horror film, The Black Phone.

The year is 1978.  A string of kidnappings of middle-school boys has been happening within a Denver suburb. These kidnappings rightfully have suburbanites frightened.  They have infamously named the unknown kidnapper “The Grabber” (Ethan Hawke).

The story centers on Finney (Mason Thames) and Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) Shaw.  Finney is the older of the two siblings and is a sweet young boy that does not enjoy conflict and is often picked on.  Gwen is quite the opposite. She is tough, fiery, and unafraid to speak her mind or physically defend herself and Finney if needed. 

Both are navigating the school scene, full of bullies and middle-school crushes.  They are also trying to adapt to their father (Jeremy Davies), who had become alcoholic and abusive to them after their mother committed suicide.  

Unfortunately, Finney becomes a victim of The Grabber. He is abducted while walking home alone on a Friday afternoon.  He finds himself in a basement that has been repurposed to serve as a dungeon.  It is dark and damp, with very little in the room besides a dirty mattress, a toilet, and the disconnected black phone on the wall. 

Finney keeps looking for ways to escape the dungeon before The Grabber decides to murder him. Strangely, he begins receiving calls from the black phone.  On the other end of these calls were The Grabber’s previous victims, who were now dead.  

Finney has some kind of supernatural sensitivity that the previous victims didn’t have, possibly inherited from his late mother.  Therefore, he can talk with these victims, learn about the tendencies of The Grabber’s mind games, and devise escape plans.

Gwen also has supernatural sensitivity. She can receive visions through her dreams.  She prays to Jesus, focuses on dreaming about Finney, and starts to receive visions of where Finney may be located.  Both Finney and Gwen try their best to find a means to escape The Grabber before he does the unthinkable.

The Black Phone achieves a lot during its 1h 42m runtime. There is a sense of unease and tension throughout the film, even before the abduction occurs.  You are worried about Finney navigating some dangerous bullies at school and view Finney and Gwen’s ill-tempered father as a genuine physical and emotional threat.

You also get a sense of the resiliency of children. At one moment, these kids witness a brutal fight in the playground. The next moment, they laugh and tease each other over Finney’s school crush.  Yet, these tonal shifts do not feel uneven.  Instead, they tell the story of how these kids cope and maneuver a complicated relationship with the world.

Although you know that Finney will be abducted, you are still heartbroken when it happens.  You have no idea how Finney will survive this or how Gwen will cope with the loss of her brother.  

Ethan Hawke does a tremendous job as The Grabber.  An unsettling and ghoulish mask covers his face for most of the film.  However, the intensity of his eyes and the freakish nature of his voice makes Hawke even more unnerving. The ability to create terror without expression from most of your face deserves commendation.

The terrifying nature of The Grabber, combined with the godforsaken basement dungeon, allows you to feel the same sense of dread, isolation, and futility that Finney experiences.  The dungeon is dimly lit, but what you can see disheartens you.  The cracks in the slate-gray walls, the dirty toilet, and the dusty black phone are outright depressing.  You do not doubt that it is a place of death.  This setting becomes another character in the story, integral to the movie’s horror, regret, and defeating tone.

There is some unintentional comedy from the two lead detectives.  Detective Wright (E. Roger Mitchell) and Detective Miller (Troy Rudeseal) are REALLY bad at their job.

The detectives discover some pretty essential clues early in the movie.  Some specific items that The Grabber left behind had to be uncommon in the area.  Why these detectives didn’t find the seller of these items and staked those places out is exasperating.  Also, Gwen gives them some great leads that she learns about in her dreams.  Even with that information, these bumbling officers fail. 

In all, this movie is exceptional.  For supernatural and psychological horrors to be the most effective, you must be wholly invested in the characters. Without an emotional connection, the property is reduced to jump scares.  That is fine for slasher and monster films, but this type of horror requires more emotional weight.

That is why kudos must be given to all child actors involved in this project.  Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw do much of the heavy lifting, but the side characters also have a meaningful impact.  Ethan Hawke is the headliner of the film, and he does give a fantastic performance.  But it is the kids that steal the show.  Kudos to director Scott Derrickson for providing the proper guidance for the child actors.  Also, congratulations to all the child actors who were able to translate complex material in such an effective way.