The Black Phone, starring Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, James Ransone, and Jeremy Davies, is a serial killer story with supernatural elements.
The story is discomforting in every way. The lives of the two children, Finney and Gwen, are already unfortunate. Finney and Gwen live a life dealing with abuse from his dysfunctional home and the bullies around the school.
The child actors, Thames and McGraw, are excellent. Their acting is superb. Really, factor in the subject matter and the combination of realism and the supernatural. It is a pitfall for all actors, but that doesn't happen in this film.
Ethan Hawke is terrifying in a fantastical way as well. The writing and acting seemingly want to soar above the commonplace "natural" style so heavily featured in film recently. It doesn't take place in a vacuum. The supernatural is representative of some sort of cosmic justice.
Jeremy Davies is also brilliant as the grieved, alcoholic, abusive father. The film tries to make us feel sorry for, even though it is difficult.
My favorite part of the film is the subtle critique of the "hurt" villain. We don't gain access to a tragic backstory. The killer, called "the grabber," is only that: a villain meant to be vanquished by the coming-of-age heroes. The abusive father is the one with the possibility of change and redemption.
This hero's tale is not sugar-coated in bright colors and witty banter. This tale shows the dark side of facing true evil. Even with supernatural assistance, the possibility of human depravity is far scarier than any possible afterlife.
The Black Phone has a different take on evil
I think that is what makes the film worth watching. It doesn't shy away from evil or try to explain it. Evil exists and preys upon the weak. It didn't need a monologue to get its point across. The story itself gave the message.
Scott Derrickson's directing here is brilliant. I've grown bored with horror as a genre. The wicked, all-powerful demon isn't scary to me anymore. I can't do anything.
Derrickson moved away from the demon trope and created discomfort through the use of awkwardly angled film slides, creepy music, and pans that revealed something the characters could not see.
The film doesn't really use a high frequency of jump scares. The slow burn of attempting to survive creates the draining effect of being captured like Finney. The audience, too, seems to be stuck in that room.
The supernatural is superior to the average human. What's truly terrifying is facing the evil of human nature. "The grabber" is corporeal evil and must be faced in a corporeal manner.
So, all in all, this fantastic realism piece is a horror film worth watching.
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