The Black Phone (2021)
Never Talk to Strangers
It’s getting to be the spooky season, but that’s not really the reason for tonight’s choice. I mean, it doesn’t hurt really, but tonight is actually another rendition of “wait staff recommends”, in which case I’ve gathered some movie recommendations from a restaurant whilst going out for dinner. Just so happens that tonight lines up with both really, so let’s remember why we don’t talk to strangers. Tonight, we take a look for the phone that keeps on ringing, tonight we watch The Black Phone.
The black phone is a tale of feasible horror, backed by a pinch of supernatural. We follow a kid main character as his town is plauged by “the grabber” - a mysterious man stealing kids off the streets and leading to them never being seen again. It’s a realistic premise at this point - stranger danger was something that exists for a reason after all. After about the second or third on screen kidnapping however, it’s our main characters unfortunate turn - and it’s at this point we get our supernatural elements starting to really come up in force as a mysterious black phone connected to nothing seems to desire a conversation with someone. The plot is solid - and with that being said I feel that there’s a goo dnumbner of people that will find this a might uncomfortable to watch given some of the plot beats, as it does extend out further than just a kid-napper as we get samples of our lead’s home life with his sister as well.
The heaviest blow this movie has to offer is probably the acting. With so many kids, it’s pretty easy to think it could fall apart pretty fast and impact the enjoyment factor as a whole. If you took what I just said right, you’ll be on the wave length that they do a good job here. Yeah, sure, there might be a few times where the acting isn’t as impressive as other moments, but they really don’t do a bad job at all. Even side characters do just enough that they come off feeling as you imagine they were intended, even if intended is an out-there coke head conspiracy theory guy. Our lead villain does a suitable job of being threatening while also unhinged.
The characters themselves feel like they have some depth to them, probably in a large amount due to almost every character that plays a role in the main plot getting some form of background drop via flashback or dialogue. Our main actually has some legit development as well, as his character progress through the situation he’s put in via the grabber. For the drama oriented, there’s a lot to appreciate in this one. If you are more of an action junkie and need constant happenings, this one might not be as oriented for you - a lot is going on most the time, and some of the characters really don’t get much more depth then the bog standard 80’s action piece, such as the detectives who don’t really get much outside of being detectives, but it’s mostly drawn out thrills and tension as opposed to any straight up action - as the horror/thriller tags would imply..
Want some candy?
The setting is “modern” - by which i mean the modern of back when, where everything is still familiar but there are no cell phones. This means the same as normal with it - things all look good, but largely it’s rather hard for it to stand out as incredibly impressive because it’s something we are all so used to. Vehicles, costumes, and the settings all look like you think they should, and does well to help the immersion of things. The only real outside-the-norm costume would be the main baddies, who gets this multi segmented stage devil mask, with various tops and bottoms to swap in and out depending on the situation. It helps add a little expression to the killer without him actually displaying his face, but doesn’t really hamper the acting job of it. There’s a few moments where I was a bit location-ally challenged, but that got cleared up by the end of the movie. The tricks of having so many similar-looking buildings really, but at the same time thematically so very on point.
Effects are well done. Yes, there’s some violence in there - I mean, you don’t really get any kids killed on screen, but there is a body count of the pint-size variety, and even then you do get to see at least one kid get his face pushed in by another kid - because bullying doesn’t pay when you try to bully the scrappy kid. What’s there looks good - mostly just blood effects here and there. It’s not too grotesque about it, especially in comparison to some of the situations. If something is going to upset somebody, it’s far more likely to be the kids in danger and dead than it is the bits of blood on screen.
Audio is well balanced. Music is there I think, but honestly don’t remember a darn bit of it honestly. The kids do a good job with their line deliveries, but if I had to pick a stand out it’s the main baddy that stands out as the most knock-out. Although it is true I didn’t come out retaining any music, I will say there’s a lot to this one that you could probably pick in to if you were the more philosophical person. The baddy mask in particular probably could be a great little essay for someone, thinking about how it reflects the mental state of our grabber - and it’s probably a lot more nuanced than the supernatural elements and how they are handled. They don’t really sweet talk that one at all, it’s pretty blunt about it.
Devil on your shoulder
This was a pretty good thriller. You keep a good level of tension all the way through, and by the time you get to the end. I don’t know how much I would call it a scary movie - although some might find that to be the truthfully most terrifying part. It’s a good flick, without a doubt, and I think it’s probably going to be quite effective for most the folks who would want to check it out.