Cast: Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Ethan Hawke, Jeremy Davies, E. Roger Mitchell, Troy Rudeseal, James Ransone, Miguel Cazarez Mora. Screenplay: Scott Derrickson, C. Robert Cargill, based on a story by Joe Hill. Cinematography: Brett Jutkiewicz. Production design: Patti Podesta. Film editing: Frédéric Thoraval. Music: Mark Korven.
Horror movies usually don’t scare me: I know their tricks and tells, and as an amateur film scholar I’m as absorbed in the techniques of camerawork and editing as I’m involved with the story. So The Black Phone, which blends two horror movie tropes, the serial killer and the ghost story, never made me jump out of my seat or threatened to come back at me in my dreams. Still, it’s a good one, with some involving performances, especially by the young actors Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw but also by the invaluable Ethan Hawke, even hidden behind some scary masks. It’s as much a story about the dark side of childhood – Finney (Thames) and Gwen (McGraw) are abused by their father, played by the usually creepy Jeremy Davies, and Finney is being bullied by some of classmates – as it is about predators and ghosts. But Scott Derrickson handles both sides of the story with finesse and without too many horror movie clichés.
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