There’s been a flood of throwback tween terror on movie screens and streaming services for the past few years: from “Stranger Things” to the newer “It” iterations, it’s been a banner era for floppy-haired pubescents in ringer tees. Scott Derrickson’s “The Black Phone” fits neatly into the subgenre, but this incredibly dark kiddie kidnap horror film just hits different with a hard-R rating, going for the jugular with a surprising extremity of violence, plus a tone that wobbles between the bleak and the buffoonish.
Adapted from a short story by Joe Hill (the son of Stephen King), “The Black Phone” sees “Doctor Strange” director Derrickson reunite with his “Sinister” co-writer C. Robert Cargill, and star Ethan Hawke, under the Blumhouse production banner, known for their low-budget, high-return horror flicks. “Sinister” co-star (and “It Chapter Two” star) James Ransone also joins up with the gang for a film that’s nostalgic not just in setting, but with regard to our fears as well. Perhaps it’s trying to show the dark side of nostalgia — things weren’t just classic rock tunes and absentee parenting back in the ‘70s, there were also real threats, not just supernatural ones.
Mason Thames stars as Finney Blake, a kid just trying to make it through middle school in 1978 Denver. His dad (Jeremy Davies) is a drunk, and the bullies are brutal (the beatdowns on screen are astonishingly bloody). Plus, all of his friends keep disappearing at the hands of a kidnapper known as “The Grabber,” who leaves black balloons at the scene of his crimes. It’s only a matter of time before the vulnerable loner Finney gets snatched too, and considering neighborhood stud Bruce (Tristan Pravong), and tough kid Robin (Miguel Cazarez Mora) didn’t escape the Grabber, Finney figures he’s a goner.
