This won't make much sense as I am writing blog posts out of order, but the Scott Derrickson (Sinister, Hellraiser: Inferno) directed and co-written 2021 horror The Black Phone is the first film I have reviewed since kind of taking a week off the blog (due to being very hungover after a work night out). Despite Ethan Hawke (The Purge, Daybreakers) being one of my favourite actors, I never got around to watching this either when it first came out, or when it got added to Netflix. With 'The Grabber' (Hawke) being added to video game Fortnite as part of its 'Fortnitemares' event, I thought it was about time I finally checked out this neat horror.
Based on a Joe Hill story of the same name (Stephen King's son), this creepy horror takes place in a small American town in 1978. There has been a spate of kidnappings of local children in the area which the police have been powerless to stop. The press have came to call the perpetrator 'The Grabber' due to the method they have of abducting their victims off the street in broad daylight. Finney (Mason Thames - How to Train Your Dragon) is a shy young boy who has been hearing about the rumours of the abductor, but has just been getting on with life. One day while walking home he encounters a magician struggling to get supplies into his van. Really not showing much common sense, Finny goes to help the man, only to get abducted - for this is the notorious 'Grabber'! He awakes in a soundproofed basement, his abductor promising he won't hurt the boy. There is a black phone in the basement, and despite being disconnected, occasionally it rings. For reasons unknown, this phone has supernatural abilities, allowing Finney to converse with previous victims, and by talking to these shadows, he begins to use their combined knowledge to try and find a way to escape.
Meanwhile, his younger sister - Gwen (Madeline McGraw - Toy Story 4 voicework, Ant-Man and the Wasp), begins to have disturbing dreams that seem to hint as to the location of her kidnapped brother.
Much like with Nicolas Cage in Longlegs, the antagonist here is someone who is rarely featured, and becomes a more powerful and intimidating villain as a result. Hawke is on fine form here, short on dialogue, but big on creeps with the expertly designed demon mask he wears. I loved how the mask had interchangeable parts to it, when he is in a bad mood for instance, the mask is reflected by the lower half having an angry scowl to it. The Grabber was an interesting character, seeming to have almost split personalities going on with the way he acts differently based on his look. Little is revealed about this movie maniac, not any kind of explanation for who he is, or why he is doing what he is. This just makes him more compelling. The wrench in the works to change this from being another movie about a deranged murderous kidnapper is the supernatural element. Rather than have this be something only Finney experiences, it is made clear that the killer also hears it's unexplainable rings, but in his derangement has convinced himself it is all a trick of his mind. A large part of Finney's story takes place in the basement, the phone calls he has to prior victims represented by them standing around near him in a ghost form, bloodied and beaten as they were when they were murdered.
Coming from the director of Sinister (one of the scariest films I have seen in my humble opinion), I had hoped this would be equally scary. It isn't, but that isn't to downplay the atmosphere and lovely seventies vibe of the film. Dream sequences are often shown with blurry footage, as if they were being recorded on a Super 8 camera, and there are some arthouse style moments of the killer standing around looking suitably disturbing. The story, split between Finney's imprisonment and his sister's journey of her own, kept things from getting dull. For Finney, it is a journey of learning to finally stick up for himself, for Gwen, it is about accepting the powers she seems to have acquired from her late mother.
Violence crops up throughout the movie, though the actual on-screen body count is surprisingly low. It culminates in a satisfying and apparently conclusive finale.
I like Hawke in pretty much anything, so seeing him play a bad guy here was a treat. Sure, I understand why he doesn't get too much screentime, but his scene stealing scenes were a little too much few and far between. A sequel has recently released that appears to double down on the supernatural element, turning the Grabber into more of a Freddy Kruger type dream-invader. I will have to check that out, but for The Black Phone, I felt the blend of crazed killer and ghosts made for a unique feeling blend.
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