The Black Phone

Ethan Hawke and Mason Thames in The Black Phone

I'm baffled by the popularity of Scott Derrickson's The Black Phone, just as I was by its antecedent, It. Adolescents are being abducted in a Denver suburb by a mysterious vendor of black balloons nicknamed "The Grabber". Finney (Mason Thames) is the latest victim to be grabbed. He is imprisoned in a soundproof basement by a mask wearing Ethan Hawke. Finney's younger sister, who has a psychic gift akin to "The Shining", is helping the police in their investigation. Jeremy Davies is their wearisome Dad, an abusive alcoholic. There is an equally tiring subplot about bullying. Finney struggles to hatch an escape, aided by the other victims of "The Grabber" who communicate through the titular phone in the basement. I did not find that these disparate elements coalesced into anything other than the most mechanistic of thrillers.

The only redeeming qualities are Brett Jutkiewicz's cinematography and Mr. Hawke's efforts to enliven the proceedings. None of the junior members of the cast give memorable or coherent performances, highlighting Mr. Hawke's professionalism. His theatricality gives the film some much needed juice, but his character is all surface menace.

Mr. Derrickson has chosen to shoot the film in a realistic style, a choice I find wrong-headed, but Mr. Jutkiewicz's dark hued palette gives the film some continuity amidst a garbled narrative. The Black Phone is set in 1978, but no one in the production was old enough to remember the zeitgeist of the late 70s. Signifiers of the era from the film: a girl's yen for Danny Bonaduce, Sweet's "Fox on the Run", and the Edgar Winter Group's "Free Ride", are all from the glitter era of 1972-1974. 1978 was more about John Travolta, The Cars, and Linda Ronstadt. I guess such distinctions are unfathomable to to the present generation. 

What is more fatal to the success of the film is its total lack of feel for the uncanny. Derrickson's realistic approach can't possibly merge the film's supernatural elements with its police procedural, serial killer, and kids on bicycles (a la Stranger Things) aspects. A most unrewarding view.