If you’ve seen pictures of Joe Hill, you know his pops, Stephen King, passed down his physical likeness to his boy. If you’ve seen Locke & Key and The Black Phone, you’ll quickly deduce that King also passed on his propensity to tell stories involving the kid with special powers trope. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; it simply becomes a bit predictable at some point, regarding the creative endeavors of the King clan.
The Black Phone, based on the short story of the same name by Joe Hill, is about a kid who gets abducted by a serial killer, then thrown in a basement, whereabouts there is a black phone on the wall that allows the kid to communicate with the previous victims of the killer, known as The Grabber. (As a side note, that’s a terrible name for a serial killer; every time I hear it, I think of some guy secretly walking up behind ladies on the street and pinching their behinds, then running off. ‘The Grabber has struck again! Beware, ladies, for you could be the next casualty to have their fanny fondled!’)
It’s an interesting storyline. While stories of serial killers, ghosts, and kids with powers are all tired topics, combining them into one actually works pretty good. And Ethan Hawke is stupendous as The Grabber. He is creepy as hell, even in the scenes where we see him just sitting in a chair. Although how and why the phone works the way it does is never explained, it’s a really cool concept. I need to read the Joe Hill story to see if more information is given.
But The Black Phone has some serious issues, too. Let’s start with the opening scene—a little league baseball game. Not a single one of the kids depicted playing baseball appears to know how to play the game. Every one of them shows piss-poor form. If the kids have never played baseball before (which is sad to think about), at least bring in someone who can show them how so it’s a believable scene. Finney, played by Mason Thames, can’t throw with that kind of speed without even going through a proper wind-up. Bruce, played by Tristan Pravong, can’t hit a homerun by barely swinging the bat. Sigh.
The depiction of the kids in the movie is bizarre. Why are they always fighting? I mean, they’re literally beating the shit out of each other constantly. This is another trope that King and Hill apparently can’t get away from—if you’re a kid, you’re either a bully or the bully’s victim, who just so happens to have special powers. It’s also not very believable that Finney is, pretty much instantly after being abducted, trying to formulate a plan of escape, like a kid MacGyver using any random thing he finds to assist him. Finney’s sister Gwen, played by Madeleine McGraw, is equally unbelievable with the way she smart-mouths every adult she comes in contact with. Though, she did a damn good job in the scene where her father is beating her. That scene was difficult to watch. There is another King/Hill trope—the abusive dad.
PC3’s Horror and Exploitation Movie Scale of Awesomeness!
Gore - 4
Special Effects - 6
Nudity/Sexuality - 0
Wow Factor - 5
Acting - 6 (mostly because of Hawke, James Ransone, and the one beating scene with McGraw; the rest of the acting sucked)
Fear Factor - 5
Story/Plot/Originality - 6
Cinematography/Atmosphere - 7
Sound/Music - 6
Fun Factor - 3
The Black Phone scores a 48 on the PHEMSA. Despite it’s flaws, it’s an intriguing concept. The film has some memorable imagery and a great performance by Ethan Hawke. You can watch it for free on Amazon Prime.
I read the story years ago, but I don't think it really explains why the phone works. That doesn't bother me. I think short stories can have unexplained weird shit and get away with it. I also thought it was bullshit that the basement was soundproof. That would be very hard to do. Also, how the fuck did the brother never know what was happening? Was he that coked out? He never saw is brother sitting there with a fucking mask on in the kitchen and wonder what the hell he was doing? I enjoyed the movie, but Deadstream was way better and probably had a fraction of the budget.