Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeline McGraw, Jeremy Davies, E. Roger Mitchell, Troy Rudeseal, James Ransone, Miguel Cazarez Mora, Rebecca Clarke, J. Gaven Wilde, Spencer Fitzgerald, Jordan Isaiah White, Brady M. Ryan, Tristan Pravong, Jacob Moran, Brady Hepner, Banks Stikeleather, Kristina Arjona, Sheila O’Rear, Rocco Poveromo, Kellan Rhude, Nina Repeta.
There are some supernatural/ thriller/ horror films that just frame the genre so well, and yet don’t receive the wider appreciation that others of lesser quality seem to enjoy.
Perhaps it boils down to the way the film’s narrative is delivered, the sense of the iconic villain, whether it strays too far into that of the tale of the detective, but if you compare two films such as A Nightmare On Elm Street and The Black Phone, despite being 40 years apart, the clear winner in a battle of how to utilise the fear of child abduction within cinema should be Scott Derrickson’s vision of Joe Hill’s acclaimed tale, The Black Phone.
Whilst Freddie Kruger is arguably an icon of the genre, under the mask of The Grabber is an actor of immense worth in Ethan Hawke, and it is down to the on-screen relationship between him and the outstanding Mason Thames as Finney that this film rises to the occasion in finer detail than that which brought the lurid spectacle of the man behind 80s franchise deals.
It is no surprise that the tale came from the mind of Joe Hill, a member of a family not adverse to offering the chance to glare into the void of the darker aspects of humanity and the grey area between nightmares and the trauma of existing in a world of shadows, but on screen the attention to detail is enhanced, it is brought to life in a way that Wes Craven could have only have dreamed of, and delivered with a greater sense of terror than the slasher horror could muster.
The reason behind that is the sense of truth that all parents dread, that the sickness that drives some to tread the road of perversion is prevalent in society and that it doesn’t take a fantasy element in which to get the point across.
The Black Phone digs deep into the psyche, the visions of the young boys to whom The Grabber has abducted and killed loom prominent, and the use of symbolism in the positioning of certain ways of escape are to be congratulated for the way they all come together.
Much must also be said of Jeremy Davies as Terrence, the father of Mason Thames’ Finney, no stone is left uplifted in the search to make his character seem as unlikeable as possible, and have it explained again with a truth of bereavement to his behaviour. It takes a level of genius acting to portray someone so broken by events that they are spared descending to far into the realm of abuse only by the love they once held for the people around them.
A fantastically delivered film, dramatic, suspenseful, driven by an age-old fear, The Black Phone connects the watcher to a nightmare of truth and illumination.
Ian D. Hall