The 18th edition of the Madrid Syfy Fantastic Film Festival kicked off yesterday, May 26, with the Spanish premiere of ‘Black Phone’, a return to horror films by Scott Derrickson after passing through the Marvel Universe with the remarkable ‘Doctor Strange’. For the occasion he has chosen a story from Joe Hillthe same author behind the stories that served to shape ‘In the tall grass’, ‘NOS4A2’ or ‘Locke & Key’.
‘Black Phone’ is by far the best thing I’ve seen so far based on a work by the son of Stephen King. It is true that Derrickson does not reach here the levels of bad vibes of the best scenes of ‘Sinister’, but instead it is a much more compact film that fully immerses you in the traumatic experience of a child who has been kidnapped. In addition, he knows perfectly well that he is not the first victim, so everything points to the fact that he will never get out of there alive.
The dark side of childhood
The first thing that should be made clear is that ‘Black Phone’ enhances tension and discomfort over shocks. Throughout the footage of him we will not find too many scares, but almost from the first moment there is a rarefied climate that will not stop going until the story is resolved.
It is clear that the sinister character of Ethan Hawke, both for the chilling interpretation – that monster about to explode is always disturbing – of his and for the successful selection of masks used. However, before that Derrickson had had time to connect the film with his own childhood through the portrayal he offers of the life of the true protagonist of the role, who has a violent father and is also the main target of some thugs in his family. Institute.
And it is that ‘Black Phone’ can also read a bit as a response to that existing fashion that has led some directors to make films with autobiographical elements, often to idealize his youth to a greater or lesser extent. There is none of that here, since the approach to that vital stage is closer to conveying the idea that it is something that there is no other way to go through, from which you will come out stronger if you do not succumb in the attempt. And I don’t forget the authenticity that comes from the town where everything takes place, although the film ends up leaving it aside.
That said, ‘Black Phone’ doesn’t take long to limit its concerns to the maximum, reducing most of the footage to a single setting and enhancing that supernatural component that it had already dropped before through the excellent character of Madeleine McGraw. That is where the viewer has to accept certain somewhat convenient notes from the script, but nothing that the film does not make clear that could happen since that first call is answered.
Other virtues of ‘Black Phone’
In addition, that allows the film to never stagnate, because there is a moment in which the idea that Derrickson could take too much pleasure in that dirty and oppressive atmosphere that ‘Black Phone’ boasts. Luckily, that is a danger that is successfully avoided, being key to it those moments in which we temporarily return to the outside, but also how the information about the villain’s strategy is dosed and what the embodied character has to do by Mason Thames to have any chance of getting out of there alive.
There, too, it is essential the great casting job to choose the young protagonists as the very effective development of them through the script. Here you will not find repellent children or children who simply arouse our antipathy, since from the outset the need to achieve the viewer’s empathy is carefully worked on, but it is also that both Thames and McGraw are fundamental so that what Derrickson proposes never even reaches to wobble
Derrickson’s own work is key to this, both for his ability to transport us to another era, his handling of visual texture in certain situations to enhance what he is looking for at that time, his good use of limited locations or his ability to handle the slow pace of the story without ever losing the audience’s interest. And obviously for how skillful he is when he unleashes violence and when it comes to knowing where to fit the few blows of effect which includes ‘Black Phone’.
In short
‘Black Phone’ has presented its credentials for the always disputed title of horror movie of the year. Of course, here you bet more on a sinister atmosphere to feed the tension little by little until you reach the inevitable final explosion. There is nothing in it that is out of tune and there are many things to celebrate. Definitely, a great start to the 2022 Syfy Showcase.
‘Black Phone’ opens in theaters throughout Spain next June 24 from Universal.