Let it ring: 'The Black Phone' calls viewers; waiting it out is the best strategy
A thriller with horror touches highlighted by Ethan Hawke's brilliant villain spin
HARK!
I hear…creative casting…
In the mildly-entertaining horror movie (by genre, at least) The Black Phone, the villain is played by…Ethan Hawke.
The logline of the movie, directed by Scott Derrickson, who was behind the camera on horror flicks like Deliver Us from Evil, Hellraiser: Inferno, Sinister and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, as well as the superhero film Doctor Strange (starring Benedict Cumberbatch):
After being abducted by a child killer and locked in a soundproof basement, a 13-year-old boy starts receiving calls on a disconnected phone from the killer's previous victims.
This is the kind of “high-concept” premise that screams for an unknown, scary-looking actor to play the villain–especially since the budget is an inflation-fighter, reportedly less than $20 million. Yet since its theatrical release five weeks ago, The Black Phone already has made more than seven times that much, raking in close to $150 million.
Part of it is surely great timing: Not a whole lot of interesting movies on big screens this summer, and the trailer/ad clearly is marketed to the teen scene.
More important: Derrickson flips horror movie casting on its head, with a bunch of unknown kids, a sprinkling of veteran character actors (Jeremy Davies, James Ransone)--and a marketable star.
Hawke, who is normally the first name you see when the credits roll, is in the middle of the pack, here; though it is technically a supporting role, Hawke is the star of the show.
Rarely seen without a creepy mask, Hawke plays a part-time magician who moonlights as a devious character the medial dubs The Grabber--luring suburban kids into the back of his black van. Taking them by force, he immobilizes them, takes them to a secluded basement and…
(Images courtesy of Blumhouse)
Perhaps the best thing about this flick is you don’t see what happens to his first half-dozen victims; the violence The Grabber perpetrates is all implied, so we don’t have to watch the likable Hawke–with that trusting look, the engagingly-halting speech patterns and humble posture–doing evil things.
Indeed, despite some supernatural touches (floating in the air, walking up walls, etc.), The Black Phone feels far more like a thriller than a horror movie. And, with plenty of kid drama involving siblings Finney and Gwen, it almost seems like an afterschool special that gets kidnapped by a rogue director…
While this is probably a fun flick for teens to watch on the big screen, a more reasonable return-on-the-dollar for adults is to rent it for $19.99 on platforms from Amazon Prime to YouTube.
Or, chill out a few weeks until The Black Phone rental price drops to under $5.
Sit and wait, in other words, let it ring for a bit….