Film Review - The Black Phone
Images courtesy of Universal Pictures Australia.
Hot off the heels of parting ways with the MCU over the Doctor Strange sequel, Scott Derrickson makes a return to his horror roots with The Black Phone, a 70s stalker flick with a sprinkling of paranormal shenanigans, that should recall memories of Stephen King classics - thanks in no small part to it being an adaptation of a short story written by King's son, Joe Hill. We follow Finney Shaw (Mason Thames) as he's abducted by a known child serial killer The Grabber (portrayed by the always excellent, if somewhat underutilised Ethan Hawke).
Where this movie could've really gone south is if the child actors weren't up to snuff. Thankfully, outside of maybe a few scenes early on, this isn't the case. Finney's sister Gwen, played by Madeleine McGraw, no doubt stole the show both times I saw the film - most of the time I'm not one for jokes that are only funny because someone swears, but I can't deny, the kid's got some decent comedic delivery. Likewise, each of The Grabber's previous victims are played as likeable or believable enough, even if they're not quite fleshed out enough to make their disappearances or subsequent deaths leave a mark.
Yet another horror film to be done dirty by its own marketing team, virtually all of the major story beats are laid bare in the trailers. While the plot itself is nevertheless somewhat predictable in its own merits, this does mean there's a certain weightlessness to the proceedings as most of the tension is robbed. What does work startlingly well in spite of this, is the movie's first act. There's a surprising amount of brutality shown from characters outside of our central villain, including child-on-child violence. Where most films set in the 70s might opt for a rose-tinted air of nostalgia, there's a pervasive sense of darkness even without the child abductions.
While its lack of teeth in the back end of its runtime is somewhat of a letdown, and Derrickson may not quite recapture the highs of earlier works like Sinister, there's no doubt that The Black Phone is still an effective, nasty little horror flick. It's the kind of movie that does exactly what one could expect from the poster, with just a lick of added creative flair (and a sub-2 hour runtime), and sometimes that's all you want from a theatre outing.
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The Black Phone is screening in cinemas from Thursday the 21st of July. For tickets and more info, click here.