In a Cellar, Phone Calls from the Dead

Ethan Hawke in "The Black Phone"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

While Stephen King has dominated the horror genre of literature for nearly five decades, his son, Joe Hill, has made a name for himself over the last 20 years in the horror genre as well.  With novels like “Heart-Shaped Box” and “NOS4A2,” and his short-story collections, “20th Century Ghosts,” it’s evident that King’s talent moved on to his family’s next generation.

Now, one of Hill’s short stories from “20th Century Ghosts” gets the film treatment.  Based on the story of the same name, Scott Derrickson directs “The Black Phone,” an eerie horror movie that’s lifted by terrific performances and an accomplished expansion of the source material.

In a Denver suburb in 1978, a prowler nicknamed The Grabber (Ethan Hawke) has been abducting children.  He soon kidnaps his latest victim, Finney (Mason Thames).  All alone in a cellar, Finney begins receiving calls from a disconnected black phone, through which he’s able to speak with the Grabber’s previous victims.  With time running out, Finney will have to listen to their advice on how to escape before it’s too late.

Thames gives a great breakout performance as someone who has to learn to stick up for himself when placed under the most dire of circumstances.  Thames provides his character with a few hints of inner strength throughout the film, even when he’s getting picked on by bullies and hasn’t quite found his potential when it comes to defending himself, showing from where his deeper strength will grow later in the film.  While in the cellar, Thames shows Finney’s blend of ingenuity and growing sense of take-charge action as he comes up with plans to escape, exhibiting an individual who The Grabber has underestimated.

Even though Hawke (who stared in Derrickson’s 2012 horror film, “Sinister”) keeps a mask on for every one of his scenes after his first appearance, he’s still able to elicit a considerable amount of creepiness to give us an idea of the deranged individual who’s behind the covering.  He does whatever he can to give us chills whenever he’s on screen.

Madeleine McGraw delivers a humorous and strong-willed performance as Finney’s younger sister, Gwen, a character who’ll do whatever she can to find her brother.  While she provides a lot of the film’s wit, McGraw still displays the intense determination and fearlessness when trying to save Finney.  The sibling bond that McGraw and Thames build in the first third of the film is very effective, which makes McGraw’s scenes in the rest of the movie that much more impactful because of how much we know she cares for her brother.

The screenplay by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, both of whom worked together on the scripts for two of Derrickson’s other films, “Sinister” and “Doctor Strange,” does well in establishing its setting.  It doesn’t go into Finney’s kidnapping right away, but instead gives us a view into his school life and home life, all while the Grabber lurks in the background abducting other children.  Although the narrative can get a tad repetitive at times, it nevertheless manages to expand the source material in meaningful ways.  As Derrickson and Cargill did in “Sinister,” they include scenes that utilize super 8 footage to show the previous victims in their lives before.  There’s an eerie nature to this footage, adding to the atmosphere of dread while also providing some insight into the other children who were taken by the Grabber.

Although this is a horror movie, Derrickson thankfully uses very few jump scares to put us on edge.  Instead, he allows for the disquieting setting and the presence of The Grabber to keep us immersed, sometimes giving the movie more a tone of a survival thriller.  As for the ‘70s setting, the short story doesn’t specify a time period in which it takes place, but Derrickson’s choice of this era and setting (he grew up in Denver in the ‘70s) reflects his connection to the area without feeling the need to call overly nostalgic attention to this decade.

With his deft handling of the source material, Derrickson’s “Phone” has an entertaining, chilling, and poignant connection.

Grade: A-