The Black Phone: A Short Story That Should Have Stayed Short

Every once in a while a movie will be optioned off of a short story that had a certain amount of notoriety. Some of these movies are Oscar contenders, like Arrival which was based on “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang, others are not as good like Hard Luck Love Song which was based on the song “Just Like Old Times” by Todd Snider. The Black Phone manages to split the difference and deliver an experience that is ultimately just forgettable.

The movie takes place in late-1970s Denver where there is a person abducting children on their way home from school. At the point the movie begins, there have already been two abductions off screen and shows the abduction of the third and fourth child before the protagonist himself is abducted. At no point prior to the fifth abduction is there the idea that maybe children shouldn’t be walking home from school not in a group but that’s not important. After Finney (the protagonist played by Mason Thames) gets abducted, he has to work with the ghosts of the previous abductees to escape from the basement dungeon that “The Grabber” (Ethan Hawke) is holding him in.

If this sounds familiar, it is because the trailer gives away everything that a viewer needs to know about the movie leaving no surprises over the course of the film. It could be debated as to whether or not that is a marketing issue or an issue with the delivery of the story itself, however the fact of the matter is that there are no risks taken in the narrative. Everything one would expect from the film happens as it is expected leaving the viewer ahead of the narrative at virtually every given point.

The other problem the movie has is that there are multiple plot points that are picked up for no reason and then dropped without explanation. For example, the mystery surrounding Finney and Gwen’s (Finney’s sister who can dream and see things that actually happen but only somewhat and it’s largely symbolic) mother who had similar ghost-seeing abilities is brought up multiple times but amounts to nothing. There is also the fact that Gwen preys to Jesus for help with seeing the dreams but there is nothing in the movie that indicates that prayer or faith is relevant to the proceedings besides the fact that it is a horror movie with ghosts.

Ethan Hawke does put on an interesting performance as The Grabber, but that is to be expected from an actor of Hawke’s caliber. It is also not enough to carry the movie over the finish line and make it an enjoyable viewing experience. On top of that, a lot of the adolescent actors do not do a great job in their roles and the dialogue for some of the scenes can be grating and unrealistic.

While the movie is passable, it is not worth seeing in a theater. The horror and thriller aspects are not suspenseful or scary enough, the gore is not anything to write home about, and there is not enough visually there to make the movie an interesting viewing experience for nearly $15. This is especially true if one decides to go see the movie in a premium format theater like Dolby Cinema or IMAX. It is a Blumhouse production (complete with a snazzy new DCEU-style logo showcasing all their characters) so it will be available to watch on Peacock in about a month and a half anyway.

Final Rating: 6/10