The Black Phone (2021)'s comments

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Siskoid

A bit slow and obvious in its set-ups (though not necessarily in its resolutions), The Black Phone nevertheless has a lot going for it. Number one among them is the cast. The kids are uniformly engaging, and I especially like the strong brother-sister relationship (when you grow up "under fire", as it were, bonds tend to be tighter). Madeleine McGraw really delivers and you often wish the movie were more about here, but Mason Thames makes for a good protagonist. Ethan Hawke, playing the child abductor/killer, is unsurprisingly good, his character's exact pathology left up to the audience (but not random). The movie's also go a nice late 70s look. Is it a period piece because 1978 was a more naive time where kids trusted a guy in a van more readily? Or because today the haunted phone would have had to be a mobile? Or was Joe Hill just reconstructing his own childhood (and its fears) in the short story? In any case, it's a clever idea. This may well be Scott Derrickson's best work, though he still feels the need to use jump scares despite the horror being fairly low-level in this (or perhaps that's why). Supernatural yes, but the horror elements don't push the envelope in terms of depiction (and hey, I'm okay with that given the subject matter).

1 year 9 months ago

ryano1076

Pretty good overall, a little slow pacing but more of a mystery as to how the kid will find a way out, how the sister will help, and what the villain's ultimate plan is. Ethan Hawke did a great job as a creepy psychopath and the kids put in solid performances, especially the sister.
I don't think that I would classify this as horror, but more so suspenseful. It has a lot of The Sixth Sense vibes, and it was billed as a horror film too, though. The situation would be horrifying in real life, but not really scary to watch on screen in the traditional horror sense. Still a great watch though.

1 year 7 months ago

samoan

This movie has a real Stephen King short story feel to it. It is nice to see his son following in his dad's footsteps. The film is refreshing original and suspenseful. Lots to love int he movie, there are some parts that are unrealistic, spoiler

but they are minor issues to an otherwise really good movie. That is suspenseful and engaging. Well acted and Ethan Hawk puts in a very creepy and well acted turn as a bad guy. I highly recommended it as a suspense thriller.

1 year 8 months ago