Review of The Black Phone (2022) by Umaumai — 21 Aug 2022

This is a really great movie all the way up to when you see the titular “Black Phone.” It becomes predictable after that and I just started counting down the minutes to the stories obvious conclusion.

Because of that I didn’t feel the relief that you do at the end of something like this, but I’m not holding it against the plot or writing. While there’s a lot about this that doesn’t quite pan out because you can see the twists coming from a mile away, there is a lot about the movie that should be praised.

The acting is unreal good. Everyone is so goddamn good in their roles. Everyone. The setting and pacing that they create is very good. Most of the effects are chilling when they need to be, but there was one sequence near the end that I’m not sure should have been there.

It’s shows one of the victims in a very poor light and if examined close enough makes what’s happened to him morally ambiguous to a degree. The most frustrating thing is that you will not gain any knowledge of why the things driving the plot forward are happening.

There is almost zero character development except for maybe the lead and his father. For that alone I’d put this movie at a 6, but the acting is just too good to not give it a 7. All said, I enjoyed my time watching it.