We all know and love Ethan Hawke from his decades in the biz but watch out for him in The Black Phone. He is straight-up scary. I can’t remember him playing the bad guy before (I need to brush up on his filmography) but man is he good at it.
Ethan Hawke plays “The Grabber” in this horror/thriller movie that takes place in the late ’70s. As the nickname suggests, he grabs his victims off the street of the otherwise quiet suburban neighborhood. The town is on edge and the police aren’t close to finding who is doing it let alone finding where the kids are being taken.
Finney and Gwen live with their dad and things at home aren’t…great. Finn and his sister have to protect each other inside and outside of the home. Finn feels the personal threat of The Grabber first when one of his friends, Robin, disappears. One afternoon, when Finn is walking alone, he’s approached by a man wearing a black hat and a theatrical-looking face mask. He says he’s a magician and he drives the big van because it has all of his performance stuff in there. It’s a good cover to get a child close…
Finn then wakes up in a bare basement that’s been made soundproof. Just one door, a broken black phone on the wall, and a dirty old mattress on the floor. Now Finn has to fight for his life. He gets help from the outside and the inside of the house. Gwen doesn’t leave things up to the police and does everything in her power to find her brother. She rules. Inside the house, Finn’s other lifeline comes when the broken phone rings. The Grabber’s previous victims talk to Finn through the phone.
The Black Phone is a really cool mix of a grounded police and survival thriller with supernatural elements. I was wary of the ghost idea coming into this, and I’m surprised a how well it works. The way it’s introduced and how each victim reaches out and expands the story comes across as believable and a great way to push character development and the plot along. The spirits that visit Finn are angry, so they aren’t really pleasant experiences for him or the audience. The suspense is great from the start with the setup that The Grabber is active, nearby, and very dangerous. Once Finn is captured, that suspense turns into tremendous tension.
Ethan Hawke has such a presence whenever he’s on screen. He has a weird, disturbing voice and has multiple masks that cover different parts of his face. It’s almost like he’s making a stage play out of his madness. I also liked that he doesn’t go over the top with The Grabber. He always feels like a real threat that could be preying on any town USA. The scenes with him and Finn (Mason Thames) are captivating. The threats and cat-and-mouse aspects create terrific action sequences.
The film also has older filmmaking aesthetics that go beyond the decades-old setting. Just about everything looks aged and worn out. It doesn’t really have that super sharp digital image that most movies have today. I think a lot of it comes from how the scenes are lit. The special effects all look real too which is another bonus.
The movie nails the landing too so this is a complete experience from start to finish. This is one of the best films Blumhouse Pictures has produced.