Traditional horror is in the equation
"The Black Phone" marginalizes the villain in favor of a weak story
Ethan Hawke is the only attraction in the boring movie.
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It's the first time in 30 years that American star Ethan Hawke has played an absolute villain. In The Black Phone we see Hawke not only a serial killer hiding his victims in a bungalow and a fortified basement, but with a scary and annoying mask, so we won't Forget the role.
Hook's character, known in the film as "The Grabber," kidnaps teenage boys and does gruesome things to them, such as murder, as the movie hints.
The Grabber drives a black 1970s pickup truck with the word "Abracdabra" written on one side, a word magicians use when displaying their optical illusions.
When he stops in his car to kidnap the boys, he pretends to be a magician and carries black balloons, but we don't fully recognize him until the scene moves into his house.
The mask of the “extractor” is compound, meaning that he can wear it completely and cover his face or remove the upper part so that his eyes appear and the rest of the mask covers the lower part of his face. Sometimes the mask appears smiling and sometimes angry.
The most important thing the film accomplishes is to highlight the evil character of Hawk, and the rest of the elements all seem to be taken from other films.
Serial killer movies, or at least the good ones, are known to have a lot of mystery.
Here, as soon as Hawke appears on screen, we feel we know him. Director Scott Derrickson employs no ambiguity;
Thus everything is clear to the viewer.
perfect place
Set in North Denver in 1978, the film is a perfect setting for a serial killer story, especially the bleak gray and brown the director uses in his scenes.
We see Vinnie (Mason Thames), a gloomy, long-haired 13-year-old playing tennis, and then the players say to each other, "Good game," a nod to Richard Linklater's 1993 film Dazed and Confused.
Vinnie and his precocious sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) talk about popular TV shows in the '70s, songs from the era sound in the background and posters of missing children, a staple of the US at the time.
Five boys have disappeared from the streets and the film hints that they have been kidnapped by the "Extractor", and as we know, the film's hero, Vinnie, is next.
When Vinny is kidnapped, we see the reinforced concrete basement with soundproofing technology and nothing but a filthy sleeping mattress.
borrowed items
The idea of the movie is Vinnie's experience in the basement and his attempt to escape.
From time to time, the "grabber" enters Vinnie to threaten him and frighten him about what will happen to him and give him food.
As events progress in that basement or basement - whatever its name - we discover that the "Black Phone" is not that terrifying movie that sucks our energy, nor that realistic that sticks in our memories like the Oscar winner The Silence of the Lambs 30 years ago or Copycat in 1995 or Dahmer 2002.
But it's more like Room, packed with horror elements, with touches of It and "Stranger Things."
The film gives hints about the direction of the story when Gwen has dreams in which she sees details referring to the killer, all of which are borrowed from other films.
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Derrickson also made Sinister 10 years ago with Hook, and also directed the Marvel movie Dr.
String.” Here he quotes a short story by Joe Hill.
The seventies were a period in which serial killings were widespread in the central regions of the United States, and some of these criminals were making a name for themselves in the crime world, famous and even becoming an icon, and may remain pursued by the authorities for long periods of time that may extend to 10 or 15 years.
These criminals did not become popular icons until after "Hollywood" made films for them.
There are also cinema serial killers, most famously Hannibal Lecter, who appeared in Thomas Harris's 1981 novel Red Dragon, and again in "The Silence of the Lambs" (1988). Lecter, for example, has become a standard character in serial killer films.
The Black Telephone does not present the Grabber as a complex evil figure, but presents him on the screen as an archetype of the character;
That is to say, that "mentally deranged man who owns a basement in his house on that street", and how many films of these characters.
We come to Hawk, who is the only attraction in this largely boring movie. Hawk is a lovable star, who is undoubtedly the movie's marketing element, his face on the poster, but the guy doesn't have much work in the role, and he's sidelined in favor of a weak story.
In order to increase the dose of fear, he resorts to ostentatious methods reminiscent of the character “Buffalo Kid” in the movie “The Silence of the Lambs” mentioned above.
In general, the film is a traditional horror within the equation that does not make sense, and it will definitely appeal to teenagers, especially those who have been bullied in their lives, as well as the hero of the film, whose experience of kidnapping taught him to resist and defend himself.
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A phone that doesn't stop ringing
In the basement there is an old black telephone hanging on the wall.
The Grabber tells Vinnie that the phone isn't working, but it doesn't stop ringing, and whenever Vinny answers the phone, he hears on the other end the voice of one of the Grabber's victims.
And all the victims are determined to help Vinny escape.
1978
The year in which the story of the film takes place.
Once Hawke appears on screen, we feel like we know him. Director Scott Derrickson employs no ambiguity; Thus everything is clear to the viewer.
The film will definitely appeal to teenagers, especially those who have been bullied, as is the hero of the film, whose experience of kidnapping taught him to resist and defend himself.
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