Ethan Hawke seems a commendable gent. If asked, I’d probably have to have him in my top 10 favourite actors, because he just seems like a blue-collar joe who’ll put his hand up for any project, and do his darnedest to make it better. Already this year, we’ve seen him as the noble Norse King in The Northman, and now he travels to the other end of the spectrum to become a menacing child killer in The Black Phone. I’m expecting this highly touted movie to have me quivering in my skivvies…
Finney (Mason Thames) and Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) live in a small Denver town, with their violently drunken father, and rely on each other to get by. This seems a lively community, apart from the flyers for ‘Missing Children’, weighing on every sign pole. The press call the abductor the ‘Grabber’ (Ethan Hawke), and when Gwen and Finney are separated by his intervention, the movie divulges into two storylines – one involving Gwen having premonitions and vivid dreams leading to the Grabber’s location, and Finney, locked in the Grabber’s basement, with a haunting disconnected black phone that rings with advice from past victims on how to handle his captor. Scott Derrickson directs.
While watching the movie, I was anticipating an ending that would tie up this tale with a pretty red bow. It turns out Gwen is just gifted, and the black phone is just a phone that rings, and the Grabber is just a guy who grabs children, which is a little underwhelming. It’s always a balance knowing what elements of a story need to be further explained, and what can be accepted as is; for most genres, but particularly for fantasy, and dealing with the supernatural. There’re early lines that indicate how not many people can hear the phone ring, but the Grabber can, and I was waiting for that to come into play, but it never does – that’s if, you don’t include the sick burn at the end, when the Grabber has a busted ankle, and the jig is up. What’s the Grabber’s MO anyway – he likes to prove kids naughty before he kills them? One of the most interesting scenes of the movie comes when Finney gives the Grabber a fake name and snuffs out any thought of the Grabber releasing him because he’s a good kid.
What this story does have is excellent shading – Daniel Faraday has made it rough since Charlotte died on the island in Lost, ey? Oh, what I mean to say is that the children’s father Terrence (Jeremy Davies) brutalizes Gwen in the most confronting moment (and that’s saying something, considering the supernatural themes and child-butcher present). But the movie kind’ve gives the father a sympathetic edge by the end of it, as he helps Gwen search for Finney, as he should, despite his skepticism in her intuitive abilities. I thought The Black Phone was also stylistically powerful, and credit can almost go to every department for culminating to produce the final project – the cinematography, the score choices, casting, and costumes, all feel like they shine independently, rather than at commendation of the director for wrangling it in; a position I’m usually more inclined to praise. Someone is clearly a fan of American Horror Story with that opening credits scene that sets a chilling tone remarkably well, as it does for every season of the TV show. And I’ll especially highlight the electrophonic score when the Grabber’s idiot brother Max (James Ransone) is on the snoop, but the score and soundtrack vary a lot through the movie and is close to perfect every time – I’ve had ‘Free Ride’ by The Edgar Winter Group stuck in my head for a day now. Young actress Madeline McGraw has a lot to do in carrying the momentum of the movie with meaty dialogue, and I thought she did an excellent job – a rising star to watch for the future. Mason Thames is also good, although his character is usually at the direction of others, so it’s easier to be impressed by McGraw. There’s not as much Ethan Hawke as I was expecting, and I wish we had more time with Finney’s bathroom savior Robin (Miguel Cazarez Mora) too, because that kid was cool as a 🥒 But I love how much variety the movie is able to get out of Ethan Hawk’s mask, as it comes apart in two, and has a frown or a grin at any given time.
Here’s something interesting – there’s one scene where The Black Phone is clearly paying homage to It, having Gwen ride down the streets in a bright yellow raincoat, which I’ll argue is kind’ve a shame. Because at times, The Black Phone holds the potential to emulate its inspirations, rather than imitate. Maybe it’s not always essential to reference passed hallmarks, I’ve come to realise, because it can give off a sense that the project feels like a derivative when it could instead aspire to inspire off its own originality. To stand alone, or respect your elders? It’s an interest case*, but I digress. Initially, I did think of this movie as the lovechild of a stylized Stephen King adaptation, and the pitiful realism of a movie like Prisoners – because I remember in It, the adults of the town where evil resides are also presented as shrouded and icky from the children’s perspective. But in The Black Phone, all the characters seem actualized and just as anguished by the dark presence in their community sucking out their children. Prisoners is an excellent movie; I should watch that again 🤔
I’ve danced around it a bit, but it’s the ending that stalls this movie from being highly recommended by me and becoming a potential classic. There’s so much plot in the beginning, leading into the action of the middle, but I felt the only decent pay-off we get it how Finney sets a trap for the Grabber using all the loose ends of his failed previous attempts to escape from the basement. The phone has no connection (pardon the pun), Gwen never makes amends with Jesus (!), and she discovers no rhyme or reason for the powers she holds. I don’t know what I might’ve done differently, but the ending did leave me feeling like the journey to get there was hollow. But alternatively, the dead children can now rest in peace, Gwen’s shinning is vindicated, and Finney can now stand up for himself, with a newfound confidence as the Coloradan ‘Boy Who Lived’ – not everyone is looking for that button of poignancy in a finale like I am.
I believe an ending can be the hardest thing to complete in storytelling at times, and for me, this one could’ve been more satisfying. But The Black Phone is an interesting ghost story with a lot of professional style and charm. Ultimately, I’m glad I saw The Black Phone – it’s put Scott Derrickson on my radar, as a notable filmmaker, although he’s been around a while already, directing big movies like Doctor Strange.
3.5
*Ok so, The Black Phone is based off a short story written by Joe Hill, who is Stephen King’s son. Adds another layer to the consideration to homage, doesn’t it 🤔
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