Film Review: "The Black Phone" (2022).

"Never talk to strangers" in The Black Phone. This supernatural horror film directed by Scott Derrickson, adapted by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, and based on the 2004 short story of the same name by Joe Hill. Finney Shaw, a shy but clever thirteen-year-old boy, is abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of little use. When a disconnected phone on the wall begins to ring, Finney discovers that he can hear the voices of the killer’s previous victims. And they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney.

Derrickson and Cargill decided to adapt Hill's short story into a feature film while the Derrickson was working on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). Cargill promised to postpone the project until Derrickson became available to direct. In January 2020, Derrickson came on board to helm the adaptation soon after departing from the sequel due to creative differences. In October, the film was officially announced. Derrickson cited films such as The 400 Blows (1959), The Devil's Backbone (2001), Rosemary’s Baby (1968), and the novel A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving, as inspirations. By early February 2021, Ethan Hawke, Jeremy Davies, E. Roger Mitchell, James Ransone, Mason Thames, and Madeleine McGraw were cast. At the same time, with a budget of $16 million, principal photography commenced and wrapped in later March. Filming took place throughout North Carolina, USA under the working title Static. The Grabber's masks were designed by legendary prosthetic makeup artist Tom Savini. The film was originally set for a January 28 2022 release date and later February 4 2022 before being delayed again to June 24 2022 due to unexpectedly great preview showings. Once Blumhouse realized just how great early reactions were, they gave it a summer release date.

The film stars Hawke, Davies, Mitchell, Ransone, Thames, and McGraw. Thanks to Hawke's performance, The Grabber is now perhaps one of the most terrifying horror villains in recent memory, even though he has relatively little screen time.

Genuinely chilling, working hard to make you squirm, the film is a perfect watch for this spooky time of year. Just a straightforward horror flick about a teenager kidnapped by a serial killer and an old black phone with a bunch of ghosts of the Grabber's victims-and Ethan Hawke! This is a slow build type of horror film where most of the audience can see the end game long before the characters in the film. Even so, it's well crafted piece of work with some genuinely scary moments. Cheapened scare sequences, an ambiguous antagonist, transparent characterizations and a mixed bag of a supernatural storyline barely put any the film thoughts in our heads worth contemplating. However, perhaps the film's most impressive element is how smoothly it transitions into the supernatural portion of its narrative. An interesting beast that combines both classic and modern scares to create a film that should have you whimpering in your seat by the end.

Simon says The Black Phone receives:

Also, see my review for Doctor Strange.