Let’s clear something up first – I know IMDb has this movie as a 2021 release, but it’s not. The way they operate is if the film had any premiere, no matter how small, that’s the year they are going with. And The Black Phone did premiere at two festivals in late 2021; however, the movie did not have its “full” US and international release until June 2022, so I will stick to that. I hate these technicalities where a movie played in one or two festivals, but it’s not released wide until several months later… it’s just confusing for everybody.
I was pretty hyped for this movie because Scott Derrickson has made some great films (many love the first Doctor Strange (2016) movie) and one excellent horror film. I am, of course, talking about Sinister (2012). I made the grave error of seeing it in the cinemas, and that still remains to this day the movie that affected me so much I couldn’t sleep well that night (what didn’t help was the screening finished around 10 PM). So yeah, Scott coming back to the horror genre and making a movie based on a short story by Joe Hill (Stephen King‘s son)? It doesn’t get any better than that, does it? And yet, what should have been another excellent horror, ended up being… still great but slightly underwhelming.
The first thing you can feel is the, for the lack of a better word, “Kinginess” of it all. Although Stephen didn’t write it, his son seems to like many of his dad’s elements (the 70s, high school bullies, kidnapped children), but if it ain’t broke, you know how that saying goes. And also, that wasn’t my issue with this film. The only serious gripe I had was that you could tell this was based on a short story by Hill. Yes, although this movie has a reasonable runtime of 103 minutes, at times, you can almost feel like this should have been even shorter. Maybe that story didn’t justify feature-length treatment at all. I don’t know, I didn’t read it, but there were a few scenes where it seemed like they were padding the runtime by any means necessary, especially towards the end. Not to mention, the movie feels like a fucked-up version of an escape room, where the ghosts tell him where the next useful thing might be hidden.
Luckily for most of this movie, you can focus on great actors. Mason Thames was a perfect choice, his character has the most growth out of all characters in the film, and he sells it without a hitch. Ethan Hawke is scary and mysterious, and although we never know much about his character, I didn’t mind that level of “mystique”. Every time he was on the screen, I was captured by his performance, despite the fact he wore a mask covering his mouth for most of the film. But I would argue the main star is Madeleine McGraw, aka Gwen. Her tenacity, pluckiness and general attitude (“Jesus. What the fuck?“) are so addictive, and she provides everything. From some moments of much-needed levity to an emotional scene at the end. I hope to see her in more movies.
I also liked the subversion of the “bad/alcoholic dad” trope. Jeremy Davies shines in this role, and when we are first introduced to him, we think we know exactly where this is going because we have seen this (alcoholic dad character) done to death. However, I am in the camp of “there is more than meets the eye”, as, throughout the movie, you can actually understand him and see him clearly, not as a monster, but as a broken man who only does what he thought was the best, mainly for his daughter. As with The Grabber (Ethan’s character), it is left very much up to you whether the dad has changed at the end or not.
Many times on this blog, you could see me write something like: “This should have been a TV show”, but I honestly feel like The Black Phone has the opposite problem. For everything I have just listed (and it is a great movie I would still recommend), I can’t shake the feeling that if you are adapting a short story, you should make sure it justifies a feature-length movie. Because for as many excellent things as I can name about this movie, I can’t still get over that weird thing where the film has you hooked from the start, only for it to let you go over time. And sure, the ending is brilliant, but everything in between is… fine. And I know Scott is capable of more than just “fine”.
Overall, The Black Phone is a great movie that could have been excellent if only we had something more to chew on. It’s an interesting tale of a superb beginning, an okay middle portion and an excellent ending that would, in most cases, make for slightly above the average rating. However, thanks to Scott behind the camera and are four main protagonists, I must go somewhat higher, as it has an undisputed quality. I would recommend The Black Phone, especially if you crave something “Stephen King-like”.
That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!
Until next time,
Luke
