Let me help you:
The child (Finny) was kidnapped by a child murderer. He was contacted via a Black Phone while in captivity, and the spirits of the children the child murderer had previously killed assisted him in staying alive and ultimately killing the child murderer and escaping captivity.
I feel like the sister's powers didn't really pay off. Yes, she found the dead bodies and it just so happens that the actual house is across the street, but it all feels disconnected.
I do like that both siblings are likeable and have a good relationship, it's pretty wholesome.
Yeah the entire plot about the sister was superfluous, except maybe to give some plausible reason why Finny might hear the phone while the other kids couldn't.
The first is that mental illness (or a family history of mental illness) allows you to hear the phone/commune with the dead as a medium. This would seemingly be supported by the fact that the Grabber is pretty crazy and he can hear the phone
The second would be divine intervention. The sister prayed for Finny pretty constantly and she was the one who could see the spirits of the dead kids without the phone, so ultimately she could be a prophet or a servant of God of some type orchestrating things by prayer.
It was an analogy for Christianity. (spoilers abound)
The Grabber represents Satan, he grabs us and holds us under. We have all the necessary tools to escape from his clutches but the only way to do that is if we have faith. In this film faith is represented by The Black Phone (and also literally by Jesus in the form of Finn's sister praying for answers.)
Even though it seems like everything is for naught and you have no idea why God isn't answering your prayers, He IS, you just are too shortsighted to see the pieces he's laying down that will come in use later. This happens when Finn breaks into the steak freezer and can't get out, it feels like everything he's been doing has made no progress. But it actually has. He wasn't supposed to escape via the freezer, the freezer was there so he could grab a steak at the end and save Max's body from the Grabber's dog. Responsibility and Respect for the dead.
At the end when Finn finally escapes his sister realizes he wasn't even in the house she thought he was, he was in the one across the street. The ONLY way he could've gotten out of his torment was through The Black Phone. Just like how Jesus is the only way through life and into heaven.
There's also a message about violence and anger being necessary against violence. This is EXTREMELY rare to find in modern hollywood, where the protagonist is stripped of all his notions of "righteous" anger in favor of apathy and loss of individualism. It's meant to discourage you. Look at The Batman, The Northman, Under The Silver Lake, A Monster Calls, etc. It's all told in the name of moderation, but it really just exists to weaken you and siphon your Will and Energy out of you.
This is not the case in this film, which was written and directed by a known Christian man (Scott Derrickson).
The message of this film is that there are evil, wicked people out there who want to hurt you and your family and friends. They're bullies, but fully grown and more malicious.
I don't understand how anyone over the age of 8 finds this scary. Ethan Hawke is a competent actor, but this shit is so hammy it's Halloween haunted house tier.
I heard a good example from a movie reviewer I watch, he basically said in 99% of supernatural horror movies the enemy is spiritual and the aid is physical/tangible, but in this movie it's the opposite. In this the enemy is physical and realistic (a kidnapper) but the aid (the black phone) is spiritual. which makes it kinda an analogy for religion, christianity is my bet
Things wrong with The Black Phone but there are probably way more if I thought more
1. Hilarious bullying scenes. Tough kid is a twig. Bullies are nerds.
2. Sister and Cop plot is pointless - they didn't do anything to help Fin.
3. Why can the sister dream walk and the boy talk to ghosts? Is magic real in this universe?
4. Why didn't the grabber just get rid of the phone? Why even have a phone down there?
5. Why keep rugs in your kill basement?
6. Why did the ghosts give 'help' that was useless, and only barely managed to be helpful in the end?
7. Why did ghosts forget their names but like... nothing else?
8. Why do they communicate through a breathing phone?
9. The grabber seemed to have just started grabbing, what was he doing before?
10. His brother seemed normal and chill, not like they were abused as kids.
11. How can a magician afford two houses?
12. "Stuff dirt into the phone instead of literally a million other better weapons"
13. Ghost fight training LOL
14. Naughty boy never explained. Why didn't he get beaten for literally escaping? Or breaking the window grate? Very naughty!
15. How'd the brother not notice all this shit?
16. There's only one basement door. How is there another room with a freezer? Why is there a HUGE freezer for a few steaks?
17. Are we supposed to like the alcoholic abusive father at the end?
18. No twist... just.. he killed the grabber and escaped
19. What's the point of the two houses? Is that an attempt at a twist? It didn't matter at all
>1. Hilarious bullying scenes. Tough kid is a twig. Bullies are nerds.
This one isn't too unrealistic to me. When I was around 10 we had a lot of bigger guys that were very slow and unathletic so they would still get beat up by the skinnier kids
>6. Why did the ghosts give 'help' that was useless, and only barely managed to be helpful in the end?
none of the help was useless. the first kid told him about the hole which grabber fell in. second kid told about the cord which was needed to trip him. third kid told him about the fridge which was needed to get meat for the dog. fourth kid coached him on the phone hitting sequence. and then that one kid warned him about going upstairs and getting killed instantly
So ghosts can predict the future? Wtf? The ghost about the hole said ‘try digging out’ but it was a shitty tip cause too hard. The ghost about the fridge also made him do a ton of work for another dead end.
It just happened that these turned out to be useful in the end but the ghosts didn’t say ‘you you’re gonna need these steaks for his dog’
I find it strange that there are ghosts in this movie's universe and you are hung up on the fact that they can maybe have some foresight into the future.
>ghosts can predict the future?
No, but they can remember that when they lost naughty boy they got killed immediately after >It just happened that these turned out to be useful in the end but the ghosts didn’t say ‘you you’re gonna need these steaks for his dog
The ghosts were just telling the kid the progress that they had made before they died. Given that they all did die, none of them had the time to complete an escape. But they were helping him as much as they could.
>17. Are we supposed to like the alcoholic abusive father at the end?
I don't think so. I think they were just showing he was a flawed character and was drinking himself to death because his wife killed herself and then he was taking it out on his kids. I didn't get the feel that you were supposed to like him, just understand him more and not see him as comically evil for no reason.
>4. Why didn't the grabber just get rid of the phone? Why even have a phone down there?
he could hear it too, my guess is he wanted to see what happened, he was "playing a game" the whole time as many psychos do, like waiting upstairs with the belt ready, that was all part of the game
>5. Why keep rugs in your kill basement?
He was visiting his brother and didn't have time to tidy everything up, get rid of the rugs and maybe the brother would miss the rugs and tought it wasnt a big deal. He was a psycho, not necessarily a mastermind, irl psychos make mistakes too
>7. Why did ghosts forget their names but like... nothing else?
Religious stuff probably
>10. His brother seemed normal and chill, not like they were abused as kids.
Many possibilities
>11. How can a magician afford two houses?
they might inherit one
>15. How'd the brother not notice all this shit?
he was a drug addict busy doing coke and being kind of schizo
Biggest, by far, is when he's in a kitchen surrounded with knives and he doesn't stab the creepy frick in the hear/neck/head. Frick escaping, murder him then take your time escaping.
This movie felt like one of those thrillers you'd rent from Blockbuster for the weekend then watch with your family, and I mean that in a good way. Interesting premise, not overlong, low budget, no A-listers, no loud CGI battles, executed well enough.
It's not perfect but it's serviceable. My complaints: >How does the Grabber's brother miss out on all those kidnappings? Grabber can just hang out shirtless in the kitchen waiting for a kid to come up without the brother walking in? >Why didn't Finn finish digging the hole? I thought he could tunnel out, but I guess the hole was still useful in the end. >Felt like a *slightly* edgier Stranger Things episode. If it weren't for all the cursing it's probably a PG-13 movie. Almost too wholesome, in a way. >Continuing the point above, I think you need to show what the Grabber did to the victims (a bit of blood on the ghosts isn't enough), or why he does all this. Needs to be scarier/creepier.
I read the short story a while back, and iirc everything that's in the short story as far as Grabber interaction is in the film, and more. A lot of the dialogue between Finny and the Grabber is copied word for word. The main differences between the two are: >The Grabber in the story is an obese sweaty frick >The story takes place entirely in the Grabber's basement >The only ghost that calls the Black Phone is Bruce
There's also some minor stuff like Finny's mom not being dead and the Grabber not having a brother. But overall I was impressed at how the film filled out the runtime with "extras." They all fit into the plot well.
I kept wondering what was the point of this movie while watching it. My best guess is that its a story about abused children—specifically the brother and sister—not the bullies. And how one possibly positive thing that could come from such abuse is resiliency; for the bullies and tough kids ultimately were killed by the Grabber. But this kid did have the strength, resolve, courage, faith, etc despite all the abuse from home. I think the "advice" he got from the ghosts was also metaphorical and represented the collections of a will to survive that only a severely abused child would have developed. That said, the movie was over all meh. I havent taken the time to figure out how the sister fits into this claim yet and i dont think i will spend the brain energy.
Stephen King's son doesn't know how to write so decided to mash up The Shining and It together and hoped for the best unfortunately for him neither does his Dad.
Terrible acting from the majority of the kids, especially the dead ones. The main kid was OK, his sister was good in one scene but bad in others.
My interpretation of the Black Phone was the metaphor for hope. The Grabber at one point mentions that he sometimes hears it ring but nobody is on the other line. He lost all hope long ago.
I really wish they had gotten more into The Grabber and his backstory. Mystery behind serial killers work, like with Michael Myers, but this one was interesting enough where it could benefit from like 20 more minutes.
The kid has multiple glass bottles and a homemade shiv and not once does this little frick decide to stab the grabber in the neck but instead gets the resolve from his dead mexican friend to use a dirt filled phone, beat him and break his neck with it. I know it was simply for the pull of having all the dead kids talk to the grabber at the end but it's still ridiculous
or even the fricking lid to the toilet. I'm honestly surprised the Grabber didn't remove that entirely because the kid could have fricked him up with that at any time
>why did the character do this??? >i would have done this instead of that!!! >it's unrealistic for this story element to exist!!! >if this situation was real then this would have happened instead of that!!!!
This is not how you critique, analyze, or even enjoy any artistic story.
the criticisms of this aren't exactly nitpicky though. there's a big difference in acknowledging blatant plot holes vs being a c**t and trying to hate on everything
>Tough kid saves Finn from bullies in the restroom >Tough kid asks for help with math homework after school >Finn goes directly home after school instead of helping with the homework
he died instead, didn't he? it was weird that it looked like he was walking right up to the van behind the building. I almost thought they were setting it up for a twist with how he was helping the guy or something
i liked it, movie had good acting, good aesthetics, i liked the mask thing. i was half expecting a twist like the killer being the kid and its some kind of wierd paranormal thing. but nothing. i think its something we expect because of other films doing this. enjoyable flick. jay what do you think? do you recommend star treck; frick my fat ass with cpt picard?
Stephen King's son trying to be his dad so hard. That's why he lays on the "character" stuff so heavy. Everybody comparing this to Stranger Things and IT are technically right, because his dad wrote IT and ST is just a King ripoff, but Joe's not ripping off either, just trying his hardest to be Stephen 2. He's like the book equivalent of Dweezil Zappa or Brian Henson
What’s there to not get?
he cute
the phone was black
i feel like there was an opportunity for an amazing twist
Let me help you:
The child (Finny) was kidnapped by a child murderer. He was contacted via a Black Phone while in captivity, and the spirits of the children the child murderer had previously killed assisted him in staying alive and ultimately killing the child murderer and escaping captivity.
I feel like the sister's powers didn't really pay off. Yes, she found the dead bodies and it just so happens that the actual house is across the street, but it all feels disconnected.
I do like that both siblings are likeable and have a good relationship, it's pretty wholesome.
Yeah the entire plot about the sister was superfluous, except maybe to give some plausible reason why Finny might hear the phone while the other kids couldn't.
Finny has his own powers? Or was her sister's influence
I think there are two ways to look at it.
The first is that mental illness (or a family history of mental illness) allows you to hear the phone/commune with the dead as a medium. This would seemingly be supported by the fact that the Grabber is pretty crazy and he can hear the phone
The second would be divine intervention. The sister prayed for Finny pretty constantly and she was the one who could see the spirits of the dead kids without the phone, so ultimately she could be a prophet or a servant of God of some type orchestrating things by prayer.
Mother influence
It was padding. The short story didn't have enough material for a feature.
Yeah, i liked that siblings relationship, very rare to see hollyisraelite doing this.
It was sweet and Wholesome.
pretty good child acting.
Liked the scene were faraday was whipping his daughter
pretty fun movie 8/10
how did he break his neck with a phone wire?
He has a mint arm.
The idea of a small kid breaking a grown man's neck with a telephone wire is so ridiculous to me even among all the other shit wrong with this movie
he had a mint arm, plus the black phone is basically jesus or at least otherworldly
He had a strong arm, they say quite a few times
The sister was distractingly hot, wish I had a sister growing up so we would love each other and have sex
It was an analogy for Christianity. (spoilers abound)
The Grabber represents Satan, he grabs us and holds us under. We have all the necessary tools to escape from his clutches but the only way to do that is if we have faith. In this film faith is represented by The Black Phone (and also literally by Jesus in the form of Finn's sister praying for answers.)
Even though it seems like everything is for naught and you have no idea why God isn't answering your prayers, He IS, you just are too shortsighted to see the pieces he's laying down that will come in use later. This happens when Finn breaks into the steak freezer and can't get out, it feels like everything he's been doing has made no progress. But it actually has. He wasn't supposed to escape via the freezer, the freezer was there so he could grab a steak at the end and save Max's body from the Grabber's dog. Responsibility and Respect for the dead.
At the end when Finn finally escapes his sister realizes he wasn't even in the house she thought he was, he was in the one across the street. The ONLY way he could've gotten out of his torment was through The Black Phone. Just like how Jesus is the only way through life and into heaven.
There's also a message about violence and anger being necessary against violence. This is EXTREMELY rare to find in modern hollywood, where the protagonist is stripped of all his notions of "righteous" anger in favor of apathy and loss of individualism. It's meant to discourage you. Look at The Batman, The Northman, Under The Silver Lake, A Monster Calls, etc. It's all told in the name of moderation, but it really just exists to weaken you and siphon your Will and Energy out of you.
This is not the case in this film, which was written and directed by a known Christian man (Scott Derrickson).
The message of this film is that there are evil, wicked people out there who want to hurt you and your family and friends. They're bullies, but fully grown and more malicious.
Shut the frick up nerd.
Cool interpretation, I'll give you that.
Whatever nerd
I don't understand how anyone over the age of 8 finds this scary. Ethan Hawke is a competent actor, but this shit is so hammy it's Halloween haunted house tier.
being le scary isn't the only thing that makes a movie good moron.
>Bad acting
>Shit story
>Not scary
Great horror film you got going here homosexual.
I thought the omnipresence of the grabber during the first half was scary
I heard a good example from a movie reviewer I watch, he basically said in 99% of supernatural horror movies the enemy is spiritual and the aid is physical/tangible, but in this movie it's the opposite. In this the enemy is physical and realistic (a kidnapper) but the aid (the black phone) is spiritual. which makes it kinda an analogy for religion, christianity is my bet
Things wrong with The Black Phone but there are probably way more if I thought more
1. Hilarious bullying scenes. Tough kid is a twig. Bullies are nerds.
2. Sister and Cop plot is pointless - they didn't do anything to help Fin.
3. Why can the sister dream walk and the boy talk to ghosts? Is magic real in this universe?
4. Why didn't the grabber just get rid of the phone? Why even have a phone down there?
5. Why keep rugs in your kill basement?
6. Why did the ghosts give 'help' that was useless, and only barely managed to be helpful in the end?
7. Why did ghosts forget their names but like... nothing else?
8. Why do they communicate through a breathing phone?
9. The grabber seemed to have just started grabbing, what was he doing before?
10. His brother seemed normal and chill, not like they were abused as kids.
11. How can a magician afford two houses?
12. "Stuff dirt into the phone instead of literally a million other better weapons"
13. Ghost fight training LOL
14. Naughty boy never explained. Why didn't he get beaten for literally escaping? Or breaking the window grate? Very naughty!
15. How'd the brother not notice all this shit?
16. There's only one basement door. How is there another room with a freezer? Why is there a HUGE freezer for a few steaks?
17. Are we supposed to like the alcoholic abusive father at the end?
18. No twist... just.. he killed the grabber and escaped
19. What's the point of the two houses? Is that an attempt at a twist? It didn't matter at all
>1. Hilarious bullying scenes. Tough kid is a twig. Bullies are nerds.
This one isn't too unrealistic to me. When I was around 10 we had a lot of bigger guys that were very slow and unathletic so they would still get beat up by the skinnier kids
>6. Why did the ghosts give 'help' that was useless, and only barely managed to be helpful in the end?
none of the help was useless. the first kid told him about the hole which grabber fell in. second kid told about the cord which was needed to trip him. third kid told him about the fridge which was needed to get meat for the dog. fourth kid coached him on the phone hitting sequence. and then that one kid warned him about going upstairs and getting killed instantly
So ghosts can predict the future? Wtf? The ghost about the hole said ‘try digging out’ but it was a shitty tip cause too hard. The ghost about the fridge also made him do a ton of work for another dead end.
It just happened that these turned out to be useful in the end but the ghosts didn’t say ‘you you’re gonna need these steaks for his dog’
I find it strange that there are ghosts in this movie's universe and you are hung up on the fact that they can maybe have some foresight into the future.
>ghosts can predict the future?
No, but they can remember that when they lost naughty boy they got killed immediately after
>It just happened that these turned out to be useful in the end but the ghosts didn’t say ‘you you’re gonna need these steaks for his dog
The ghosts were just telling the kid the progress that they had made before they died. Given that they all did die, none of them had the time to complete an escape. But they were helping him as much as they could.
>17. Are we supposed to like the alcoholic abusive father at the end?
I don't think so. I think they were just showing he was a flawed character and was drinking himself to death because his wife killed herself and then he was taking it out on his kids. I didn't get the feel that you were supposed to like him, just understand him more and not see him as comically evil for no reason.
>4. Why didn't the grabber just get rid of the phone? Why even have a phone down there?
he could hear it too, my guess is he wanted to see what happened, he was "playing a game" the whole time as many psychos do, like waiting upstairs with the belt ready, that was all part of the game
>5. Why keep rugs in your kill basement?
He was visiting his brother and didn't have time to tidy everything up, get rid of the rugs and maybe the brother would miss the rugs and tought it wasnt a big deal. He was a psycho, not necessarily a mastermind, irl psychos make mistakes too
>7. Why did ghosts forget their names but like... nothing else?
Religious stuff probably
>10. His brother seemed normal and chill, not like they were abused as kids.
Many possibilities
>11. How can a magician afford two houses?
they might inherit one
>15. How'd the brother not notice all this shit?
he was a drug addict busy doing coke and being kind of schizo
>11. How can a magician afford two houses?
it was a different time
Biggest, by far, is when he's in a kitchen surrounded with knives and he doesn't stab the creepy frick in the hear/neck/head. Frick escaping, murder him then take your time escaping.
This movie felt like one of those thrillers you'd rent from Blockbuster for the weekend then watch with your family, and I mean that in a good way. Interesting premise, not overlong, low budget, no A-listers, no loud CGI battles, executed well enough.
It's not perfect but it's serviceable. My complaints:
>How does the Grabber's brother miss out on all those kidnappings? Grabber can just hang out shirtless in the kitchen waiting for a kid to come up without the brother walking in?
>Why didn't Finn finish digging the hole? I thought he could tunnel out, but I guess the hole was still useful in the end.
>Felt like a *slightly* edgier Stranger Things episode. If it weren't for all the cursing it's probably a PG-13 movie. Almost too wholesome, in a way.
>Continuing the point above, I think you need to show what the Grabber did to the victims (a bit of blood on the ghosts isn't enough), or why he does all this. Needs to be scarier/creepier.
>no A-listers
shots fired at Ethan Hawke
The original short story took place entirely in the basement room. And had way more grabber interaction.
This movie would’ve been way more kino if they kept that
I read the short story a while back, and iirc everything that's in the short story as far as Grabber interaction is in the film, and more. A lot of the dialogue between Finny and the Grabber is copied word for word. The main differences between the two are:
>The Grabber in the story is an obese sweaty frick
>The story takes place entirely in the Grabber's basement
>The only ghost that calls the Black Phone is Bruce
There's also some minor stuff like Finny's mom not being dead and the Grabber not having a brother. But overall I was impressed at how the film filled out the runtime with "extras." They all fit into the plot well.
I kept wondering what was the point of this movie while watching it. My best guess is that its a story about abused children—specifically the brother and sister—not the bullies. And how one possibly positive thing that could come from such abuse is resiliency; for the bullies and tough kids ultimately were killed by the Grabber. But this kid did have the strength, resolve, courage, faith, etc despite all the abuse from home. I think the "advice" he got from the ghosts was also metaphorical and represented the collections of a will to survive that only a severely abused child would have developed. That said, the movie was over all meh. I havent taken the time to figure out how the sister fits into this claim yet and i dont think i will spend the brain energy.
Stephen King's son doesn't know how to write so decided to mash up The Shining and It together and hoped for the best unfortunately for him neither does his Dad.
wtf was the point of there being two houses
You were the black phone all along
Terrible acting from the majority of the kids, especially the dead ones. The main kid was OK, his sister was good in one scene but bad in others.
My interpretation of the Black Phone was the metaphor for hope. The Grabber at one point mentions that he sometimes hears it ring but nobody is on the other line. He lost all hope long ago.
I really wish they had gotten more into The Grabber and his backstory. Mystery behind serial killers work, like with Michael Myers, but this one was interesting enough where it could benefit from like 20 more minutes.
The kid has multiple glass bottles and a homemade shiv and not once does this little frick decide to stab the grabber in the neck but instead gets the resolve from his dead mexican friend to use a dirt filled phone, beat him and break his neck with it. I know it was simply for the pull of having all the dead kids talk to the grabber at the end but it's still ridiculous
or even the fricking lid to the toilet. I'm honestly surprised the Grabber didn't remove that entirely because the kid could have fricked him up with that at any time
also would a ceramic toilet lid not just break before a fricking concrete wall?
i remember it breaking a bit, but it probably would have shattered eventually. that could have been easily worked around in the script.
>why did the character do this???
>i would have done this instead of that!!!
>it's unrealistic for this story element to exist!!!
>if this situation was real then this would have happened instead of that!!!!
This is not how you critique, analyze, or even enjoy any artistic story.
the criticisms of this aren't exactly nitpicky though. there's a big difference in acknowledging blatant plot holes vs being a c**t and trying to hate on everything
Suspension of disbelief and verisimilitude are absolutely parts of storytelling mid-wit anon.
>Tough kid saves Finn from bullies in the restroom
>Tough kid asks for help with math homework after school
>Finn goes directly home after school instead of helping with the homework
PISSES ME OFF, NOW HE'S GONNA GET AN F
he died instead, didn't he? it was weird that it looked like he was walking right up to the van behind the building. I almost thought they were setting it up for a twist with how he was helping the guy or something
i liked it, movie had good acting, good aesthetics, i liked the mask thing. i was half expecting a twist like the killer being the kid and its some kind of wierd paranormal thing. but nothing. i think its something we expect because of other films doing this. enjoyable flick. jay what do you think? do you recommend star treck; frick my fat ass with cpt picard?
Stephen King's son trying to be his dad so hard. That's why he lays on the "character" stuff so heavy. Everybody comparing this to Stranger Things and IT are technically right, because his dad wrote IT and ST is just a King ripoff, but Joe's not ripping off either, just trying his hardest to be Stephen 2. He's like the book equivalent of Dweezil Zappa or Brian Henson
ay why da phone gotta be black doe?
Have faith in GOD