Sometimes things don’t turn out as you planned. You thought a situation was going to be one thing and it turned out to be something completely different. New Years’ parties always start with so much hope and excitement and are often underwhelming. But sometimes, those magical moments where you don’t think anything exciting will happen and the complete opposite happens.
Black Phone (dir Scott Derrickson) was not what I was expecting but at the same time mostly what I was. It follows Finney (Mason Thames) a young kid sensitive kid trying to figure out this crazy world we live in.
In a coming of age story in the 80s, there are the stereotypical bullies that want to do harm to him for no real reason. The magic of this film is in the relationships of the kids. Mason and his little sister Gwen (Madeleine McCraw, she was very impressive) have a lovely bond which carries through the whole movie.
This movie is a bit of a throwback to the likes of The Goonies where kids are kids, not so much young adults, and their friendship is the real power of the movie.
Mason and Madaleine have issues at home with their mother passing away and with their father appearing to suffer from PTSD. They both endure hardships at the hands of their troubled father.
The action heats up when The Grabber (played by mostly masked Ethan Hawke) enters the scene. The Grabber personifies the fear of stranger danger in the early 80s. Mason is captured by The Grabber and has to get help from his sister and his friends to escape.
It all sounds pretty straightforward and it is well made, directed and edited film. Building a lot of tension and having the young performers put in some great performances. However, there are also ghosts, scary things, and violence because Derrickson is a horror director and Blumhouse Productions makes lots of horror films.
After leaving the cinema I did feel more like a classic 80s feel-good kids movie, it just happened to have horror involved.
28 July 2022
By Luke McMeeken-Ruscoe