‘Black’ Magic
The director of ‘Sinister’ brings us more kids-on-bikes-getting-scared-in-the-’80s action, only this time with kids that aren’t annoying.
the Black Phone
Director: Scott Derrickson • Writers: Scott Derrickson, C Robert Cargill, based on the short story by Joe Hill
Starring: Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Ethan Hawke, Jeremy Davies, E Roger Mitchell, James Ransone, Miguel Cazarez Mora
USA • 1hr 42mins
Opens Hong Kong June 22 • IIB
Grade: B
Inside the first 10 minutes of The Black Phone, we have a schoolyard brawl wherein the neighbourhood tough kid who struggles with math, Robin (Miguel Cazarez Mora), beats the shit out of the local bully to the delight of almost every other kid in town. The Black Phone is cut from same cloth as roughly half of author Stephen King’s oeuvre, but this early throwdown signals director Scott Derrickson’s willingness to go in a much bloodier direction. Kind of like when the movies started admitting that women could be horny and violent. Kids can be vicious. So The Black Phone isn’t really a horror film: it’s a creepy AF coming-of-age story with heaps of explict child-on-child violence.
Bottom line, if you enjoy Netflix’s Stranger Things, or Andy Muschietti’s It (the first part), or JJ Abrams’ Super 8, or Rob Reiner’s Stand by Me, or any of those retro tales about kids processing trauma and misery at home while slowly venturing out into a dangerous adult world, The Black Phone is for you. It should come as no surprise this is based on a short story by Joe Hill – AKA Son of King – so the themes of dysfunctional families, learning self-assertion, the horrors of youth and friendship are baked in. Unlike some of those earlier films, however, the young leads here are totally relatable and actually kind of awesome. I know, right? Where did that come from?
Introducing the least irritating movie children ever
The Black Phone pivots on decent but timid teen, Finney (Mason Thames, really quite excellent) as he deals with the requisite King-ian bullies at school and an abusive, alcoholic father (Jeremy Davies) at home. The shared stresses between he and his younger sister Gwen (the super excellent Madeleine McGraw) have forged a rock solid bond between them – that and the fact their dead mother may have had a supernatural power that Gwen is also tapping into. While they’re trying to live their miserable lives, Finney becomes the sixth kid to be abducted from the streets of their Denver suburb by The Grabber (Ethan Hawke), whose accessories indeed include a blacked out van. In her way, Gwen leads the charge in finding him while Finney gets help coping and escaping by phone from beyond the grave.
A huge chunk of the action unfolds in The Grabber’s spare basement, furnished with a skanky mattress and a toilet well on its way to Trainspotting status. Derrickson keeps the camera steady, exploiting dark corners for maximum effect. The “action” is a series of chats between Finney and The Grabber, who promises he’s in no danger. As played by Hawke, continuing his late-career renaissance playing fiery weirdos and fanatics – The Northman, Moon Knight, the painfully underhyped The Good Lord Bird – The Grabber is never given any motivation (fine, it’s not his story) for his kidnap/murder hobby, but Hawke turns creepy into menacing on a dime, and escalates from one scene to the next, putting Finney’s efforts to escape on a timer.
Despite appearances, this is not a horror movie
Derrickson, whose checkered filmography includes the mostly effective horror Sinister, the functional Doctor Strange, and the tragic Keanu Reeves version of The Day the Earth Stood Still, keeps things low-key and analogue (the 1978 setting helps), and should be applauded for carrying off the magic trick that is making his child characters and kid actors engaging. Come on, you know what I’m talking about. The movies are teeming with kids who inspire “Stop that damn blubbering!” rather than connection? That’s not on the kids; it’s on half-baked writing that never gives you a chance to empathise with the character (which applies to any age). Derrickson pulls a performance from Thames that’s believable in its terror – this is a timid kid whose sister often saves him from assholes don’t forget – yet sparks just enough hope to make the film’s last act a corker. And Thames’ co-star, McGraw, absolutely crushes what Derrickson and co-writer C Robert Cargill (who worked together on Sinister) give her to play with. Gwen reading Finney’s bullies and Jesus Christ (!) for filth are among the year’s highlights so far. No, The Black Phone isn’t scary; it’s not supposed to be. It’s about the horrors that come from within, of self-doubt, uncertainty, the sense of free fall when family fails you. — DEK