Review Of The Black Phone, Thriller Story Wrapped In Supernatural Drama

Film The Black Phone (Universal Pictures)

JAKARTA - The Black Phone is a supernatural horror film which is an adaptation of the 2004 short story of the same name by writer Joe Hill. Set in 1978, the film opens with information that as many as five children go missing in a Colorado suburb.

A young baseball player Finney Shaw (played by Mason Thames), becomes sixth when a serial killer, nicknamed "The Grabber" (played by Ethan Hawke), knocks him out and throws him into a van.

Finney wakes up in a soundproof basement with the phone disconnected. He quickly learned of the phone's ability to transmit the voices of The Grabber's previous victims, who wanted to help him escape.

Meanwhile, Finney's sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), experiences a psychic dream that sends her on a quest to find her. It is not surprising that Ethan Hawke's appearance as a cold-blooded child kidnapper is one of the most interesting elements of this film. Hawke, as is well known, has never played a ruthless villain in 30 years. Moreover, he plays this character completely by wearing a mask.

Quoted from ANTARA, thriller films with serial killers tend to have a certain dark mystery to the antagonist. The interesting thing in "The Black Phone" is that Hawke's character is not explored very deeply, however, strangely, the audience seems to have known this character in a certain way.

Of course, this is a very refreshing performance from Hawke - whose character reminds audiences a bit of the clown Pennywise from "It" (2017) - who both "hunt" small children for his own entertainment.

The variety of characters played by Hawke is now even more diverse, after he also played another antagonist recently in "Moon Knight" (2022), Arthur Harrow, until he became King Aurvandil War-Raven in "The Northman" (2022) -- making it even more worthy of being called an actor who is not only talented, but also has a very wide acting range.

It wouldn't be fair if the only credit was given to Hawke. Two child actors Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw also stole the attention. For Thames, this is his first big screen debut.

As the main character, his performance as Finney is quite convincing. The fear and tension as a child being kidnapped, held captive, and trying to escape from the vicious kidnapper, seemed to be conveyed to the audience.

Unlike the Thames, for McGraw who plays the character Gwen, this is not his first film debut. He is arguably one of the promising stars, having played key characters in popular films including "Ant-Man and The Wasp" (2018), "Toy Story 4" (2019), to "The Mitchells vs. Machines" (2021).

Her performance as Finney's cheerful, outspoken, and brave sister is hard to forget. It provides emotional and psychic spices that blend well with the storyline.

Everything has the right portion for the development of the character of both, coupled with family dynamics and attempts to escape from The Grabber.

"The Black Phone" was directed by Scott Derrickson, written by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, and produced by Jason Blum. These three names are no stranger to Hollywood horror filmography.

Derrickson himself is known through films such as "Sinister" (2012), "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" (2005), to "Doctor Strange" (2016). He has his own style and approach in horror and supernatural films, which seems to have become his specialty today.

In terms of visuals, "The Black Phone" is packaged "beautifully" and is able to provide surprises for anyone who watches it. This is also reinforced by the scoring and jarring sound effects -- even the ringing of the phone in a movie can be very stressful when experienced in the cinema.

Furthermore, one of the striking features of Derrickson's storytelling style is his closeness to Christianity, which is his religion and belief. In The Black Phone, audiences can find this element, which is well wrapped and fairly light.

Another interesting thing about this film is that it is set in the late '70s. As it turns out, this is not far from the United States. In Uncle Sam's country, the late '70s and early '80s were the years when child abductions were reported. As depicted in the film, posters of missing children have sprung up all over the city.

This closeness is also reinforced by sparks of '70s nostalgia, including the pre-teen hairstyles and hairstyles of the time, hints about the Vietnam War, to pop culture such as the film "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (1974) and iconic songs such as " Free Ride" by Dizzie Gillespie (1977).

Overall, "The Black Phone", which had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest on September 25, 2021, seems to be one of the interesting viewing options in the middle of this year. This 102-minute film will be ready to "terrorize" film lovers in Indonesia on June 22, 2022.