Movie Reaction: The Black Phone

Formula: IT * the location of Saw * the structuring of Signs

 

As an aspiring film nerd, there’s a secret I’m never supposed to admit: some movies don’t lose that much if you see them at home. Don’t get me wrong. A theatrical viewing is always better all else being equal. The size, ambience, and lack of distractions means they always play better in a theater. However, there are movies and genres that lose a lot more from the theater to home drop. Big action movies are great in theaters. It’s hard to get the same size and sound systems at home. However, coming-of-age dramadies play about as well at home. Many comedies live and die by the idea that a large audience will loosen up the laughter in a way that an at home viewing can’t. There’s even a divide in horror. Many of my favorite horror movie are all about dread and isolation. I’m sure Hell House LLC would work in a theater, yet it still worked wonderfully in my dark apartment late one night. Other horror really needs the collective screams of an audience to work. I don’t always prefer this latter brand of horror, but they are undeniably fun in a full theater.

 

The Black Phone really plays well with an audience. It’s a horror movie of big moments, jump scares, and strategic editing. It’s the story of a young boy, Finney (Mason Thames), who is abducted by a serial killer known as “the Grabber”, played with a lot of zeal by Ethan Hawke. Finney is placed in a basement with a bed and a black phone that is disconnected. He and his sister have a touch of the supernatural. For his sister (Madeleine McGraw), that means she has dreams that give her clues about where her brother is that she passes onto the police. For Finney, it means he gets calls from the ghosts of the kids who were killed before him. They let him know about their different attempts to escape that failed but could lead to Finney getting out.

 

It’s all a little neat for my taste. A lot about the screenplay is reverse-engineered. As I like to say, I could see the puppet strings. There are a lot of Chekov’s guns in this and it’s pretty clear that they are all Chekov’s guns. I do appreciate that that the film is mapped out enough that it all comes together, but I wish that it could’ve been less obvious about it. The sister’s powers are ultimately pretty useless too. It makes for some good climactic visuals but in terms of saving her brother, she could’ve been written out with the exact same result. Perhaps that’s what really bothers me. If a film is going to be about a confluence of supernatural events it should be a lot tighter. To err is human, but when the divine is involved, I’m look for some peak Shaymalan connecting the dots. The Black Phone stops at merely being clever.

 

It’s a good audience movie though. The Grabber doesn’t have to be as good as Ethan Hawke. He’s under a mask most of the time. It could’ve been James Randone in the role, but Hawke has fun with it. He’s quite frightening and his body movements are all about 10% wrong, which is unsettling. Even when I knew they were coming, the jump scares got me to jump a little. There’s a lot of scary imagery. Director Scott Derrickson knows what he’s doing.

 

Verdict: Weakly Recommend

 

After the Credits

 

Other than the mask, the Grabber is an awful horror villain, right? If he owns two houses, why doesn’t he just let his brother stay in the spare one instead of risk his murder house getting discovered? I’m not sure how he’s able to afford two houses in the first place. And what’s his game exactly? What’s the significance of the mask and what are the rules of his game? He seems pretty sloppy at this. I’m surprised he ever caught and killed one kid, let alone 5. And where’s the scene where he shows that he’s capable of fitting into the real world to fool people? His appearance when he catches Finney is automatically suspicious. Based on his van, he seems to work in the service industry. Are you telling me no one ever reported that weirdo when kids went missing in his area? I’m obviously being petty, but there’s not much about The Grabber to make me believe the thinking only went as far as “he’ll have a scary mask”.