THE BLACK PHONE (2022): FILM REVIEW

The Black Phone (MA15+)

Directed by Scott Derrickson

Written by Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, based on the short story by Joe Hill

Starring Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw and Ethan Hawke

Duration: 103 minutes

As was the case with Brandon Cronenberg and Possessor, I always find it hard not to compare an artist and their work to that of any particularly notable family members. The fact that The Black Phone is based on a short story written by the son of Steven King not only was impossible for me to dodge in the marketing material, but was also impossible for me to not notice while watching the film. Despite desperately wanting to not take part in placing King's shadow over Hill's work, The Black Phone really does feel like it is one of the better King adaptations in recent years. 

Because, and let's get this out of the way up front, The Black Phone is great. It isn't perfect, and it isn't going to stand the test of time as one of the most important films to ever be released, but it is really efficiently tense and a breath of fresh air in today's cinema landscape.

There are elements of the film that were in the trailer that I wish weren't, so I'm not even going to talk about the plot elements in that trailer. One of the great things about this film is its total commitment to and immersion in the time period it is set in. It feels like it could easily have been released in 1983, and not just in the surface level aesthetic elements - although all those things are there, including grainy film, top notch production design and well placed needle drops. The authentic '80s feel comes from the merciless treatment of violence towards children, its depictions of the behaviour of children, and confidence this film has in not explaining every last detail to the audience. The kids in this film beat the shit out of each other constantly, and throw homophobic slurs around without a second thought. The terror of a masked man kidnapping kids is never watered down. 

There is also a scene of domestic abuse that includes one of the most convincing and harrowing child performances I have seen on screen in a number of years. The scene itself is horrible, as it should be, and the performances portray a nuance and complicated twist to the relationships that lie at the heart of such harrowing abuse. 

Not a single character is left without a bare minimum amount of depth, something that makes the film feel that extra bit lived in and authentic. Just when any particular character might be starting to slip into stereotype, a line or two is worked in that imbues them with enough detail to elicit empathy and compassion from the viewer, all of which ultimately serves the incredibly effective thriller elements of the film.

Which, let's not pretend otherwise, is largely what this film is there to do. There are a few very effective jump scares, but where The Black Phone really shines is in the scenes constructed meticulously to wring every last drop of tension out of the situation. There are long stretches of the film that are almost unbearably tense, and the film does a great job of not only maintaining that tension but also doing the hard yards leading up to these scenes by establishing stakes and rules. 

The supernatural elements of the film were well handled, too. There is a dramatic device used throughout that visualises a story element that (it is implied) is in a character's head, and the fact that this works as well as it does I think goes a long way to keep the audience invested. In a lesser film, this element of the film would be the thing that stops viewers becoming invested, but I think Derrickson did a fantastic job in walking that balancing act of committing to the supernatural story device while keeping the film grounded and real. 

In addition to the child performances which are almost uniformly great across the board, Ethan Hawke is tastefully restrained as The Grabber. It is this restraint that makes his character so effectively creepy and menacing, and I applaud the film for leaving a large portion of the mystery surrounding his character intact. The Tom Savini-designed mask is brilliant in its simplicity, and may well prove to be one of the more iconic costuming choices in horror this decade. 

In terms of negatives, there are a handful of loose plot threads that never resolve. I don't think these are huge problems that hurt the film in any real structural ways, but I was left wondering if the script could use another couple of rewrites and go-overs. There is some slightly ropey dialogue, but a lot of that could simply be down to the young children delivering those lines, and less so down to the script itself. There is an argument to be made about the simplicity of the mechanics and revelations in the story being a negative thing, but for me I was just so happy to see a film with enough confidence to clearly set out its boundaries and rules before delivering on them in incredibly satisfying ways. 

Is it going to change the world? Of course it isn't. But it does do exactly what it says on the tin, and is a deliciously mean-spirited, brutal thriller with buckets of tension to spare.