'The Black Phone' A Review

The Black Phone is a horror film, based on the Joe Hill story of the same name. In 1978 a serial child abductor "the Grabber"(Ethan Hawke) is terrorizing a Denver suburb. Siblings Gwen(Madeleine McGraw) and Finney(Mason Thames) go about their normal childhoods dealing with their alcoholic father(Jeremy Davies), bullying at school, and just generally trying to survive with the specter of the Grabber hanging over them until Finney himself is taken.

Both Thames and McGraw are remarkable child actors, Thames with a realism and vulnerability that's really astonshing and McGraw with both a sweet sincerity and a foul-mouthed ferocity that's kind of stunning. Hawke too gives an absolutely incredible performance, predominately utilizing old school mask work to make this boogeyman unique and terrifying. Davies pulls no punches with how awful he is and its a refreshingly accurate look at the reality of alcoholism. The supporting cast are all solid and throughout there is a harshness and reality about it all that evokes more accurately the work of Hill's father Stephen King than the(very entertaining) rigidly PG-13 Stranger Things.

Clearly on a limited budget the film's production is executed with absolute expertise, the score gives you chills, the suburb feels like the late 70's in everyway, the clothes, the dream sequences, the scares, it's all very precise and rich. It's thrilling, it's entertaining, but it's absolutely not cute and there's something refreshing and true about that. A trap many stories with kids can fall into. And it's smart, although the subject matter has kids-in-distress there is little violence shown, it is mostly implied, the action is all from the perspectives of Gwen and Finney and what they, mostly, deal with is real world danger.

An absolute homerun.

Currently in theaters coming soon to VOD.

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