The Black Phone | Review & Score

About: 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.

I had no idea this movie was even being made, I know about the source material it's based from (a short). It's a creepy and very unsettling story.

Derrickson is known for his sense of dread and enigmatic storytelling within the horror genre. From The Exorcism of Emily Rose to Sinister, Derrickson has his own flair for the genre that many of us love. THE BLACK PHONE is his latest entry, and it did not disappoint.

This has just about everything you would expect from a Scott Derrickson horror project. Dread, a wicked villain, supernatural elements and a strong cast and story. This is a fantastic return for Derrickson and his craftsmanship is all hands on deck. The cast is brilliant, especially the younger stars.

First off, Mason Thames does fine work in the sub-lead role as Finney, the young boy who outsmarts the deranged Grabber. Thames has a very subtle approach to the character, which is right on the money. He truly knocks it out of the park.

Then, there's Ethan Hawke as The Grabber. Hawke is menacing, deranged and portrays one of the most frightening villains in recent horror memory. He truly made my skin crawl the entire time, without skipping a beat. Hawke has been on a role lately, playing captivating characters, more so his villainous turn in Marvel's Moon Knight.

Finally, there's by far my favorite performance in the film, that of Gwen. Madeleine McGraw portrays Gwen, the sister of Finney. Gwen has been having dreams of the Grabber and his past victims, which all coincided with one another. Gwen is fierce, intelligent, snarky and a well written character who steals every scene she's in. McGraw was tremendous.

I also want to give praise to the creepy and dready atmosphere of the film. Derrickson knows what he's doing and it always shows with the amount of detail he can capture within a single scene, let alone a whole effing picture. The musical score, the opening scene, the final scene, everything was so well crafted and was faithful to the source material.

The Black Phone will be remembered for a long time to come, rightfully so. I was captivated from start to finish and was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Not one character was poorly conceived or written. Every character served a purpose and wasn't left on the side to waste away. I like that. I wish every movie was like that. Oh well.

So far, there's a strong argument that The Black Phone may end up being the strongest horror entry for 2022. I've seen some strong ones thus far in 'X', 'The Cellar', 'Scream' and a few others. But the only one to come close to capturing what The Black Phone has, was X from Ti West.

I've heard rumblings of a sequel to The Black Phone and I hope it happens. I want to see where these characters go, especially The Grabber and the story of Gwen and Finney. We shall see. Let's do it Derrickson! Let's do it

4/5