#the black phone review

[ebtks-reviews]

The Black Phone (2021)

Sink Spoilers for the black phone (2021)!

So I'll start off this review with my likes and end with my dislikes. First off, I definitely enjoyed the movie's feel and stylization. It is authentically late 70s and the use of sepia tones and soft film makes the film feel much older than it actually is. I'm in my early 20s so I cant exactly protest to its accuracy but from my limited experience, it feels about right. The story is also very 70s as well with a serial killer that likens itself to Ted Bundy.

It would surprise no one that the film was made by a son of Stephen King with its general vibes and reoccurring themes, why try to fix a formula that isn't broken? It dose lend itself to some predictablity but again, works fine. I love the acting, it feels genuine and the characters actually stood out enough in appearance and personality for me to remember their names! No characters felt unnessesary or padding and although I have one gripe, I'll save that for later. I loved the little sister and her tenaciousness never came off as comedic or too much. She's the perfect antithesis to the little girl in psycho goreman, enough spunk to make her funny and interesting but not so much it strays into straight up unnessesary meanness or over-acting. I also enjoyed the show of the dad being an abuser but also one with good intentions, even if his actions have led to unforgivable places. King has a history of making villians for the sake of villains and the father felt like a real person, a bad person, but a real person none the less.

Now we can talk about the negatives. I felt this movie had a lot of just... Boring moments. Just moments where nothing was happening. I felt like donna, Finney's crush, was really a nothing character and I wish the sister's psychic powers were either explained or utilized abit more but surprisingly, most of my gripe lies with something alot of people liked, which is the grabber. I have no criticisms for Ethan hawkes performance, he did amazing and the grabber feels like a realistic serial killer, big, strong and scary for what he's managed to get away with and accomplish but deep down is just a pitiful nerd who took his desire to hurt others too far by being unchecked. My gripe is that despite the dad being a minor antagonist, the causation of his evil is well thought out and realistic. We get no motive from the grabber. There's a few times where I could just barely make out a subtext of gayness and sexual assault, mostly from these incidents: him being almost naked when he wants to beat the boys, the fact he's only grabbing young boys fresh out of puberty, the fact he tells Finney he "won't do anything to him that he won't like", the fact he calls his motis operandi "naughty boy" and the similarity of his glasses to those of jeffery Dahmer, a famously gay serial killer who acted around that time. However, as a gay person myself, I don't consider these nessesarily enough to make that direct connection like I did with high tension (🤢), they just aren't explicit enough of a justification or the subtext of him being gay and repressed is so subtle, it flew past me despite my gaydar. Other than that, the grabber, his reasons, none of it is expanded upon as much I wish it were. He's not compelling to me completely cause despite all his scenes, I don't feel like we see him enough. The movie definitely could of benefited from us seeing the grabber in his daily life, like how he'd be with his brother, but instead, we only hear it kinda second hand and even then, we dont learn anything, there's barely a single sentence based in it. The movie would be improved, if only partially, by some more scenes with Ethan hawkes. The story definitely suffers a bit from being based on a short story and having a short run time, it feels like they weren't working with a lot of material or budget so it felt abit rushed despite the large sections of nothing happening down in the basement. It could of used a scene or two to break some it up, even if it's the main set piece. A location is great but there were many times the movie cut, I expected us to be somewhere else learning something else but it was just the basement from another angle and the start of a new scene there immediately after. A small gripe but one I noticed more on my second watch through rather than the first.

Outside of that, I generally enjoyed the movie, it's tone and i didn't find much of it to be too unrealistic or unbelievable. Despite the existence of the ghosts and their advice, the supernatural elements weren't over played, over helpful or carrying the movie. The kids got help, yes, but they still had to do things themselves, with all the danger of doing it alone. The ghosts were more moral support and advice than anything like psychic blasting the grabber to the shadow realm. The ending was satisfying and brutal without being over the top, even if I found myself wondering why the grabber would remain in that hole, even with the broken ankle. It felt earned and even made my gf cry so I gotta give it some points lol

All in all, 8/10 sinks. Very good, not the best horror I've ever seen by any means nor the most intriguing but, for what it was, it was interesting and enjoyable. I definitely suggest seeing this movie as a newer horror fan as it's not super jumpy, bloody, gorey or require a huge wealth of knowledge about previous horror to understand it. Very beginner friendly.

[pricelessreviews]

[letterboxd-worth-a-damn]

[sweepweep]

So I'm finally getting around to trying to finish Stranger Things for the first time (totally worth the hype surprised that the "Momma Steve" thing I heard about is like a canon thing) and I got to the first episode of season 3 where the older ladies who are all parents with like teenage aged kids are gawking at this dude who they knew as a high schooler (and even if they didn't he is significantly younger than them he is like their kids' age) and all I could think of was "NOOOOOOOOO!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Ooooh oh no… oh NO

Sigh

[butchyena]

mourning someones who’s not dead this morning. man.

[chaosinside24-7]

"He was an idiot. But he was my idiot."- The Grabber

🎬: The Black Phone (2022)

[mushed-kid]

i finally watched the black phone i really liked it it was good i liked finney or finnley whatever his name was i liked his sister and the movie👍

[starsdotalk]

I have this love and hate relationship with Tumblr, because everytime I search a movie (that I still haven't watched) I ALWAYS get SPOILED. (Still, I love Tumblr for introducing me to those movies anyways)

[milliondollarbaby87]

The Black Phone (2021) Review

When Finney Blake is abducted by the serial killer than has been named The Grabber, he must use all of his wit to stay alive. The mysterious black phone in the basement keeps ringing and it’s the previous victims of the killer who all try and help him. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Continue reading The Black Phone (2021) Review

[sp4c3b0yw0rld]

Today I watched...

The Black Phone (2021)

And I didn't like it.

SPOILERS BELOW

Here goes my review/opinion/complaint:

First of all, WHAT ARE YOU DOING BOY, WHY ARE YOU GOING NEAR A BLACK VAN THAT SAYS "ABRACADABRA" TO HELP A WEIRD GUY WHO JUST THREW HIS SHOPPING BAG IN FRONT OF YOU KNOWING THAT 5 KIDS HAVE BEEN KIDNAPPED BY SOMEONE WITH A VAN?

Also, it wasn't even that dark, how did anybody notice the BIG BLACK "ABRACADABRA" VAN?

This guys gotta be the most useless police officers I've ever seen in a movie (couldn't find a photo of them, but if you've watched the movie ykwim).

That scene when Finn goes upstairs and the guy is asleep made me scream at the screen. Like, why don't you just hit him or knock him or smth BEFORE trying to escape? He had things there, objects he could have used to knock him; if he had, the movie would've been over (and so would my suffering). But he didn't.

He tried to escape, he was caught and back inside the basement again. Wow.

I did my best not to turn off the TV and keep watching, that was the real horror.

And well the end is... Idk how to describe it, it all feels very rushed, very spontaneous.

More context needed.

A lot of people recommended me this movie, and I still can't understand why.

Final rating: 4.5 out of 10 (I mean, it's not that bad, but I wouldn't rewatch it and didn't like it)

In the end, this is only my opinion, if you've enjoyed this movie that's fine, just don't recommend me anything more pls (jk).

bye n see you soon!

[livingscarypodcast]

Happy Monday!

We have a new episode up! Check out episode 96 for a movie review of The Black Phone and the true crime case of Jacob Wetterling

Check us out on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube!

[letterboxd-worth-a-damn]

[gravecinema]

Grave Reacts: The Black Phone (2022) - 07/11/2023

In this video, my roommate will be reacting to her very first watch of The Black Phone from 2022. The suspense in this one really got to her.

[allthingsheardandseen]

The Black Phone (2021)

Directed by: Scott Derrickson

Written by: Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill

Rated R for violence, bloody images, language, and some drug use.

Movie Synopsis: A masked, sadistic killer holds Finney, a 13-year-old boy, kidnapped in a solitary basement. Through a broken phone on the wall, Finney communicates with other victims of the criminal, who want to help him.

Review

3.7 stars

IT, Super 8, and Nightmare on Elm Street is the mixture of movies that came to mind after seeing The Black Phone.

I really loved that the movie takes its time to establish characters, settings, and relationships before jumping right into the main plot of the story. That is something I find other movies of this genre lack nowadays, and being able to see who the protagonists are, what drives them, and what and who they care for before seeing them in the worst situation possible is crucial for story telling of this sort.

The elements of the supernatural do feel quite odd when in contact with the protagonist since it is never established why he is able to have contact through the phone with the other kids. (Not a spoiler, this is established in the trailer) (and yes, there are some theories about why this is, but none are confirmed).

I'm still on the fence about how I feel about Ethan Hawke's performance, but that is due to how his character was developed. I feel as though he didn't have any real motivation to do what he did and since he is the face of the movie, I feel they should've cleared that aspect a bit.

Nevertheless, is a fun watch for anyone who likes supernatural thrillers.

Trailer

Watch it on: Amazon Prime Video

Sources

Pictures: Pinterest

Synopsis: Google

[emeto-film-critic]

The Black Phone - 2022

SAFE/Caution - A,V•

•A,V• Multiple instances of some blood coming out of the mouth of different characters.

***Mild gore, coughing, blood on, coming out of and around mouth can be seen and heard throughout movie.***

[rookie-critic]

Rookie-Critic's Top 25 Films of 2022: #18: The Black Phone (dir. Scott Derrickson)

For those that don't know, Ethan Hawke might possibly be my favorite actor. He's a fascinating guy who shows a passion and a love for filmmaking that's palpable in his work. I also think that he's massively underrated as a horror actor, with top notch performances in both The Purge and Sinister (which was directed by Scott Derrickson, who directed this, as well). So needless to say I was beyond excited when I first saw the trailer for The Black Phone and saw that, not only was Hawke collaborating on another film with Derrickson, but that this time he'd be playing the villain. While Sinister might be a scarier film than this film, the story of the Black Phone is more fleshed out and robust. I will admit to a bias for Stephen King-esque stories, which this most certainly is (the short story this is based on was written by King's son, Joe Hill), but I think there is an objective quality to Black Phone that exists outside of that bias. Hawke is genuinely menacing as the antagonist of this film, and Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw don't disappoint, either, with McGraw in particular bringing a humor to some of the film's moments that is both unexpected and beneficial at the same time. The suspense and intensity of the film's more climactic moments are masterfully crafted and left me in a nervous ball in my theater seat. Everything about the Black Phone is just solid, quality thriller filmmaking, and it was an early addition to the list that clung to its spot for dear life. Currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Read my full review of The Black Phone here.