Movie Man Darian Watching All Night Long

The Black Phone 

This is a brilliant horror film that will get under your skin and truly terrify you! Their have been tons of films I’ve seen where a kid goes missing and the films plot-line is trying to find the kid before time runs out now the best film to me that uses that tone the greatest was the incredible cinematic masterpiece Prisoners with Hugh Jackman. Now I’m not saying this is even close to the degree of what Prisoners achieved but it definitely is a well thought out and incredibly well acted horror film that uses a over exhausted genre and truly hits all the right notes in terms of engaging the audience with this very simple plot while layering it with well done scares and thrills. 

Firstly, This film uses the backdrop of the 1970’s in a perfect way as a lot of crime happened in that era not just missing children was a huge issue but their were huge spikes in mass murders in the 1970’s. you had Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Son of Sam and you even had the attempted assassination of President General Ford their was tons of crime in that decade so to have this film take place during that place in time was perfect as it was definitely a high time in terms of crime. The film leans into how easy it was for a kid to go missing as the parents really never kept a eye on them or had a safe plan in place for them to get home safely so the abductions happened frequently. So in the film shows the fear that is instilled in the kids of how at any moment their alone their vulnerable to being taken by the character called the Grabber. It’s done in such a realistic and chilling way. The tone of the film is done in such a realistic way you can feel the knot in your stomach the moment the black van pulls up and the sheer terror you have for what will happen to that kid makes your heart race. The editing and sheer execution of how this story was done is brilliant, chilling and truly terrifying in every sense of the word. 

Secondly, the performances from this cast is stellar! Mason Thames gives a solid performance in this film! He gives a fantastic breakout performance as this really is his first big production he’s ever done and this kid Mason Thames gives a truly engaging performance full of such depth and emotion. He could of done such a one note performance but he shows the layers of vulnerability of the situation he’s in with such raw and authentic emotion so well and it’s a performance that will truly impress you a fantastic breakout performance and I can’t wait to see what he does next. Then you have Ethan Hawke who gives a chilling performance that will have you disturbed and amazed  all at once. Now this character he plays is not very dialogue heavy as it’s more psychical in the way he intimates you with his onscreen presence and unsettling nature and Hawke provides that in what I think is one of his most darkest and truly complex performances he’s ever given onscreen. Now everyone else in the film is good and give fantastic performances

but it’s the sheer dark and chilling performance of Ethan Hawke that will have you on the edge of your seat along with a great breakout performance by Mason Thames. 

Lastly, The Black Phone is one of the most bone chilling and terrifying  horror films I’ve seen this year with a truly simple premise done in a incredibly realistic way that will have you gripped the moment it starts to the very last frame. Along with truly solid performances and a truly outstanding performance by Ethan giving one of his darkest performances with his work in this film The Black Phone is a truly fantastic film that I recommend everyone go check out.

This film centres around multiple children who are getting taken by a person named the grabber and Finney one of the kids that does get abducted has to find a way out before the Grabber kills him

Rated R : Some Drug Use|Language|Bloody Images|Violence

Ethan Hawke : Hawke delivers a truly terrifying performance that is truly incredible! Now Ethan Hawke is no stranger to the genre of horror as he’s done the Purge and sinister now what I love about his selection in roles when it comes to the genre of horror is he takes the kinds that can get under your skin and that are very psychological and or realistic in its execution. Now what he does with his role in the Black Phone is unlike anything he’s brought to the genre before as in his roles in the purge and sinister he was likeable and you rooted for him but here he takes on the antagonist role of this picture and he fully embraces it greatly with such fierce emotional complexity. As the Grabber is a character that when we meet him seems very engaging but with truly dark intentions and he takes that and runs with it as throughout the course of the film we don’t find out at all what his purpose is for kidnapping these kids. Not once do we get a backstory or a flashback nothing and to mean that’s what made his performance that more scary is he really doesn’t have a motive and so he’s unpredictable in his actions and Hawke relishes in the mystery of this character. As he uses his psychical nature to intimidate his victims as once he has them in the basement it isn’t him making them suffer by psychical pain but psychological warfare as he wants the kids to try to escape he wants them to try to run because then it gives him a excuse and a reason to inflict pain on them which is very messed up but Hawke is able to bring that emotionally messed up psychology the character is driven by to the screen in a truly gripping way. Their are moments when you’ll hear the kid ask why is he doing this and what’s the satisfaction he gets from this and the Grabber at first thinks he has the upper hand so he comes off confident and even calming in his interactions with the kid but Over the course of the film he starts to crack. When the kid starts finding ways to outplay his sick psychological game his patience goes away quickly as whenever the kid would ask to many questions he would snap at him as he dose not want the kid to figure out who he is. Adding to that the way Ethan Hawke delivers his dialogue in the film is the stuff of horror as you’ll hear this shaky unnerving sound in his voice with bits of vulnerability but then he can remain calm and collected while staring you down with this devilish look in his eyes and he captures this truly frightening quality to the character that gave me chills he is outstanding in this film giving such depth to a character that lives in the shadows and you can’t look away from what he’s giving onscreen it’s a terrifyingly brilliant performance from Ethan Hawke. 

Scott Derrickson : This man knows how to entertain an audience with such simplistic plots lines! Now this man is responsible for introducing us to Doctor Strange back in 2016 and may I add he directed that film greatly and even further back he terrified us with his brilliant work on the first Sinister film in 2012 which also starred Ethan Hawke. Now here he takes a plot that in its overall look is very standard it’s about a kid that gets kidnapped and now he has the responsibility and task of making that engaging so what does he do he gives us well fleshed our characters with the children so we care and invest in them. Then after he establishes them we don’t see the antagonist for quite some time he’s spoken about but not seen until maybe 20 minutes into the film and then once Ethan Hawke appears in that Black Van the film dose not let up for a moment he makes the film a race against time which worked greatly to what it was trying to accomplish. As the kid Finney has to outsmart this murderer before he ends up dead and he is unaware how much time he has so he has to act fast and Scott Derrickson does an amazing job at scaring an audience and presenting the thrills in such a effective way that didn’t require tons of gore or blood he gets under your skin by psychological horror and he never revealed the intentions this killer had which made it the all more terrifying when your antagonist doesn’t have a motive but just lashes out in violence because he enjoys it and it made it more chilling as the villain is unpredictable in his nature. Then he was able to get great performances out of his cast especially a solid performance from Ethan Hawke and he did a fantastic job at delivering on the scares and thrills all the while avoiding the tropes of the kidnapping horror cliques that have been done before but is able to smartly construct a well thought out film that keeps you on edge they whole way through Scott Derrickson gave fantastic direction with his work on this film.