Review of The Black Phone (2022) by Moviemitch96 — 24 Jun 2022
This so-called thriller sees Ethan Hawke as a masked child abductor whose latest victim (Mason Thames) discovers an old black rotary phone in the basement he's being held captive in in which he can talk to his captor's previous victims who have long since been murdered and who try to help him escape by any means necessary.
Directed by Scott Derrickson ('Sinister', 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose'), the film also happens to be based off of a short story, and unfortunately, it certainly shows, as story feels stretched rather thin in order to try and make a feature films worth of its source material.
I wasn't too keen on the film's pacing, and there's very few actual scares, most of them simply being cheap jump ones that accommodate a rather predictable story. Really the only true highlight of the film is Hawke's sinister and menacing performance which was a rather interesting change of pace for the actor, along with Thames' bold and fierce performance as well.
Otherwise, the film is overall forgettable, predictable, and lacks any true suspense of any kind.
This review of The Black Phone (2022) was written by Moviemitch96 on 24 Jun 2022.
The Black Phone has generally received positive reviews.
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