The Black Phone Review: A tad disappointing amidst the hype
Spoilers ahead for The Black Phone!
I saw the beautiful snowy vibe in The Black Phone 2 and wanted to go see it at my local theater. Of course, I wasn't going to watch that movie before this one, so I went into this film pretty excited after hearing good things from some of my favorite critics. While I wouldn't say the movie was anywhere near bad, I can't lie: I was left a little disappointed. So what elements of this film left me disappointed? That's what I'll be tackling in today's Reel Ranker review.
I'll start with some of my disappointments with this film, then move on to the good stuff. I loved the idea of the Black Phone, but in a vacuum, I'd have wished it had gone more practical and less supernatural with the Grabber. While it ended up working for me in The Black Phone 2, since that movie leaned much more into the supernatural and surreal, I didn't love it after just watching this film. This isn't like an objective negative of the film, but I'm a lot more scared of the concept of "voicemails from kids that died" than "supernatural phone calls". Also, Gwen's dream powers felt like a rather underbaked idea in this one, only really flourishing in the sequel.
Also, while this film had great vibes at times, it only scared me a little bit due to the fact that kidnapping is scary in general. I didn't really feel a lot of bottled-up tension or horror from the film. While I'm more than okay with not jumping out of my seat or crying in terror at every horror film I watch, I still expect something to horrify me. I don't really think either of the Black Phone films built up enough tension to really scare me (outside of a certain suicide scene in Black Phone 2, which was terrifying).
The Black Phone is a witty, character-driven thriller elevated by a fantastic script and memorable performances, though its underbaked horror elements and insufficient tension building leave more to be desired.
I think the concept of this film was great, but I felt the execution was rather underbaked compared to what it could've been. However, what certainly wasn't underbaked was the script. The script of this movie was fantastic. Finney and Gwen are awesome characters, with Gwen being one of my favorite horror girls in recent memory. Her talking-to-Jesus and sailor-mouth scenes were always the most entertaining and compelling parts of this movie. The script here was quite witty overall, and the actors did a fantastic job bringing it to life. The imagery was also rather iconic, with the black balloons and the Grabber being very memorable.
The Reel Ranker Verdict
Reel or Unreel? - Reel
The Reel Ranker Score: 60%
Letter Score: B-
Star Ranking: 3 out of 5
In the end, while I was disappointed by this movie's horror elements, I still really enjoyed the characters, script, imagery, and acting enough to give this film a positive score. It was more of a thrill ride with fun characters than a horror movie, which isn't at all how the film was marketed, so I feel I have the right to be a little disappointed. Regardless, this film is still worth a watch, if only for Gwen's dialogue.
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Check out my The Black Phone 2 review below!
Brighton Nelson
