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The Black Phone
Fans of the 2009 drama The Lovely Bones will have a head start with 2021's The Black Phone, a claustrophobic crime thriller that, despite some logic defying plot twists, had this reviewer on the edge of his seat and holding his breath for the majority of the running time.
Based on a short story by Joe Hill, the setting is Denver in the late 70's where a 13 year old boy named Finney is kidnapped by someone simply known as The Grabber. It comes to light that Finney is the Grabber's 5th victim and that the previous four victims are believed to be dead. The Grabber throws Finney in a dingy basement with nothing but a mattress and a disconnected phone on the wall. It's not long before the disconnected phone begins to ring and Finney finds himself communicating with the previous victims who want to help Finney get out. Meanwhile, Finney's little sister, Gwen, is receiving clues to what happened to Finney through her dreams.
Director and co-screenwriter Scott Derrickson helped Hill fashion his story into a viable screenplay that meticulously sets up backstory where we meet the previous victims, who are all revealed to have a level of acquaintance with Finney so that we know that the Grabber is coming his way. Backstory is also provided through Finney and Gwen's troubled relationship with their alcoholic abusive father, who blames the kids' mother's crazy dreams for her eventual suicide, which he equates to Gwen's dreams, which contain details that the police never released.
Most of the logic defying is centered around the grabber. Every time he grabs a kid, he grabs them by twisting a bunch of black balloons around their neck and then leaving the balloons at the scene? Why leave the balloons at the scene? We're given no motivation behind why the Grabber picks the kids he does or his motivation other than murder. Shortly after he takes Finney, a sexual component is hinted at but quickly hinted at but dropped just as quickly. We never learn why this nutcase kidnaps and kills these children. Then there's this phone...we know the phone is not connected and we know Finney is not really talking to the previous victims, but we're confused as to how and why this is happening and why the Grabber is so incensed when he first catches Finney on the phone.
However, as in The Lovely Bones, it becomes clear that the first four victims are not happy about the way they died and they don't want to see the same thing happen to Finney. Fortunately, these kids are given a little more power than Soirse Ronan's character in The Lovely Bones, giving Finney more control over his fate.
Derrickson mounts this story on a dark canvas, enhanced by what is obviously a limited budget, and shows a definite skill with the camera. He gets some first rate performances from Mason Thames as Finney, Madeline McGraw as Gwen, Jeremy Davies as their dad, and especially Ethan Hawke, in an ultra-creepy performance as The Grabber. A sharp thriller that delivers the goods as long as you don't think about it too much.
Fans of the 2009 drama The Lovely Bones will have a head start with 2021's The Black Phone, a claustrophobic crime thriller that, despite some logic defying plot twists, had this reviewer on the edge of his seat and holding his breath for the majority of the running time.
Based on a short story by Joe Hill, the setting is Denver in the late 70's where a 13 year old boy named Finney is kidnapped by someone simply known as The Grabber. It comes to light that Finney is the Grabber's 5th victim and that the previous four victims are believed to be dead. The Grabber throws Finney in a dingy basement with nothing but a mattress and a disconnected phone on the wall. It's not long before the disconnected phone begins to ring and Finney finds himself communicating with the previous victims who want to help Finney get out. Meanwhile, Finney's little sister, Gwen, is receiving clues to what happened to Finney through her dreams.
Director and co-screenwriter Scott Derrickson helped Hill fashion his story into a viable screenplay that meticulously sets up backstory where we meet the previous victims, who are all revealed to have a level of acquaintance with Finney so that we know that the Grabber is coming his way. Backstory is also provided through Finney and Gwen's troubled relationship with their alcoholic abusive father, who blames the kids' mother's crazy dreams for her eventual suicide, which he equates to Gwen's dreams, which contain details that the police never released.
Most of the logic defying is centered around the grabber. Every time he grabs a kid, he grabs them by twisting a bunch of black balloons around their neck and then leaving the balloons at the scene? Why leave the balloons at the scene? We're given no motivation behind why the Grabber picks the kids he does or his motivation other than murder. Shortly after he takes Finney, a sexual component is hinted at but quickly hinted at but dropped just as quickly. We never learn why this nutcase kidnaps and kills these children. Then there's this phone...we know the phone is not connected and we know Finney is not really talking to the previous victims, but we're confused as to how and why this is happening and why the Grabber is so incensed when he first catches Finney on the phone.
However, as in The Lovely Bones, it becomes clear that the first four victims are not happy about the way they died and they don't want to see the same thing happen to Finney. Fortunately, these kids are given a little more power than Soirse Ronan's character in The Lovely Bones, giving Finney more control over his fate.
Derrickson mounts this story on a dark canvas, enhanced by what is obviously a limited budget, and shows a definite skill with the camera. He gets some first rate performances from Mason Thames as Finney, Madeline McGraw as Gwen, Jeremy Davies as their dad, and especially Ethan Hawke, in an ultra-creepy performance as The Grabber. A sharp thriller that delivers the goods as long as you don't think about it too much.