THE BLACK PHONE (2022)
Label: Universal Picture Home Entertainment
Region Code: A/1
Rating: R
Duration: 103 Minutes
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.39:1)
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 7.1, Latin American Spanish DTS-HD MA 7.1, French Canadian DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English, Latin American Spanish and French Canadian Subtitles
Director: Scott Derrickson
Cast: Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Jeremy Davies, James Ransone, Ethan Hawke
The Black Phone (2022) is based on the short story by author Joe Hill (Locke & Key) and is co-written and directed by Scott Derrickson (10 Cloverfield Lane) who teams up with his Sinster star Ethan Hawke (Daybreakers) to bring this 70's coming-of-age nightmare to the big screen. The story is set in a Denver, Co suburb in 1978 where a child-killer dubbed "The Grabber" has been snatching neighborhood kids. Amidst this we have Siblings Finney (Mason Thames, Apple TV's For All Mankind) and Gwen (Madeleine McGraw, TV's Secrets of Sulphur Springs) who live with their abusive, alcoholic and widowed father (Jeremy Davies, TV's Lost). At school Finney is bullied non-stop and his sister is often punished by her father for having or talking about her psychic-dreams/visions, which her disturbed mother, who killed herself, suffered from.
The Grabbers most recent victims are kids Finney knows, his classmate Robin (Miguel Cazarez Mora), who protected him from bullies at school, and a kid named Bruce (Banks Repeta, HBO's The Outsider) who played baseball for a rival school. The next to be taken is Finney, who after encountering a part-time magician in a van (Hawke) wakes up in a dingy, soundproofed basement with a black phone mounted to the wall.
Eventually the Grabber makes himself known and taunts Finney, saying he has no plans to make him do anything he doesn't want to do, and that he will eventually release him... and that the phone on the wall doesn't work. Finney is no dummy though, he knows this demon-masked nut has no plans on releasing him, and immediately sets about figuring out how to escape from the basement before whatever sick plans The Grabber has for him can come to fruition. A strange thing happens while he's down there alone, the disconnected black phone on the wall begins to ring, and when Finney answers it, maybe expecting to hear the voice of The Grabber, he discovers that he can hear the voices of the killer’s previous victims who are communicating from beyond, making sure that whatever awful things happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney.
The late-70's setting of The Black Phone is brought to life rather exquisitely, this is not the Spielberg or Stranger Things idealized version of the era, this is how I recall my small town feeling like in the early 80's, it feels lived-in with all sort of little touches like old school Corn Flakes boxes, cheesy horror flicks on TV, kitschy wall chotskies, goofy pop-culture references (Happy Days, The Partridge Family), and hand me down clothing worn by the characters - it all pulled me right in. I also love that it's filmed with a style that feels authentic to the period but also has a bit of dinge added to it. Throw era specific "Free Ride" and "Fox and the Run" that immediately put you in the proper frame of mind - so all the creating the period stuff is spot on. I also loved that Gwen's visions were shot using super 8mm film, which gives it a retro-sheen that's all warm and fuzzy but also creepy. It gives those scenes an edge I don't think they could have achieved as well any other way.
I also love a good coming-of-age story crossed with a serial killer threat, this sits quite nicely alongside kindred spirits like Summer of '84, I Am Not A Serial Killer, and The Clovehitch Killer - but this is my favorite of that trio. The looks of The Grabber and his segmented demon-mask is super-creepy (designed by Tom Savini!), with Hawke letting the mask do a lot of the heavy lifting but turning in a dark performance behind it. The real stars here are child actors Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw who absolutely carry the film from start to finish, they are so good, giving multi-faceted performances that are nuanced, you really get behind them and feel their emotions and their fear.
Audio/Video: Sadly, no 4K UHD (yet...) for The Black Phone (2022) but we do get a solid 1080p HD Blu-ray prevention framed in the original 2.39:1 widescreen aspect ratio. Shot digitally the visuals are tight and concise with pleasing fine detail, it has a beige pallor to it by design that has the look of being stained by nicotine, or at least that what my mind conjured, it definitely capture the late 70's period the story is set in. Black levels and shadow detail are pleasing throughout, which was appreciated, it's a very dark movie, not just in tone but also in appearance. Audio comes by way of uncompressed English or Spanish DTS-HD MA 7.1, French Canadian DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English, Latin American Spanish and French Canadian Subtitles, as well as having a Dolby Digital 2.0 English Descriptive Video Service. This has a killer sound design that creates lots of atmosphere with subtle and not-so-subtle elements, it's pretty terrific. We also get tense supportive score from Mark Korven (The Witch) that builds suspense and ratchets up the tension, and we get a sweet selection of 70's rock that sets the stage, choice cutsfrom the Edgar Winter Group, Sweet, and brilliant use of Pink Floyd's "On the Run" that is right up there with the way Michael Mann used Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" in Manhunter - it sent shivers up my spine.
Extras include an feature length Audio Commentary by Producer/Co-Writer/Director Scott Derrickson who gets into adapting Joe Hill's book and bringing his own flavor to it based on his childhood. He cover's a lot of ground with it and gets into the nitty gritty of making the film, the creatives that helped him bring it to life, and the contribution of special effects master Tom Savini who created the look of the mask. We also get a handful of EPK style extras featuring Director/Co-Screenwriter Scott Derrickson, co-screenwriter Robert C. Cargill, cast members Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Jacob Moran, Banks Repeta, Brady Hepner, DP Jutkiewicz, Hair Stylists Priscilla Green and Weldon Steinke, Stunt Coordinator Mark Riccardi, Production Designer Patti Podesta, Set Costumer Laurel Pocucha Ojala, Make-Up FX Head Rick Pour. Mask Designer Tom Savini and Mask Creator James Baker. These add up to about 22-minutes and there's some cool behind-the-scenes footage peppered throughout. We also get the 1-min of Deleted Scenes, 2-min Theatrical Trailer and the 12-min Shadowprowler - A short film by Scott Derrickson.
The two-disc DVD + Blu-ray + Digital combo in a standard 2-hub keepcase with a single sided sleeve of artwork. Inside there's a code for a digital copy of the film, which when I redeemed it on Vudu includes all the extras except for the commentary track. We also get an slipcover with the say artwork as the wrap with embossed film titles on three sides.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by Producer/Co-Writer/Director Scott Derrickson
- Deleted Scenes: Is This America Now?' No Dreams (1 min)
- Ethan Hawke's Evil Turn (4 min)
- Answering the Call: Behind-the-Scenes of The Black Phone (11 min)
- Devil in the Design (5 min)
- Super 8 Set (2 min)
- Shadowprowler - A short film by Scott Derrickson (12 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min)
I have a soft spot for retro coming-of-age films and for kids in peril stuff, so this really hit me right in the sweet spot, I love this movie, absolutely a top 10 of 2022 for me, I'll be slobbering all over this one for a while. The Blu-ray from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is top-notch and the extras are pretty cool, too.
Screenshots from the UPHE Blu-ray:
Extras:
