The Black Phone - Sprich nie mit Fremden | Riecks Filmkritiken & Co.

Langreview Kurzkritik English Version Fakten + Credits

Serial killers combine gruesome horror and a strange fascination. Everyone is afraid of them and yet there are people who develop affection and are attracted to criminals of the worst kind. This is known as hybristophilia or, more popularly, Bonnie and Clyde syndrome. As a result, certain violent criminals even achieve pop-cultural status, and it is not uncommon for them to attract the attention of screenwriters. One of the worst killers is Samuel Little, who is said to have committed 50 murders in about 30 years. The ranking of superstars of a different kind also includes John Wayne Gacy, who mainly targeted boys and young men in the USA and attracted them with an inconspicuous disguise. As a clown, he was able to win the sympathies of the young people and eventually murder 33 of them. The “reward” was an entry in the Guinness Book of Records for a sentence of 21 times life imprisonment and 12 times the death penalty.

These acts of horror now served as inspiration for his latest film for Scott Derrickson, who, after a small excursion into the Marvel universe, is now devoting himself to his favourite genre again. However, he only used this knowledge to refine his work, because the intellectual impetus for the development of THE BLACK PHONE came from Joe Hill’s short story of the same name, which is just 20 pages long and was extensively expanded by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill and has been extensively expanded. Hill’s real name is Joseph Hillström King and he is one of the sons of the infamous horror writer Stephen King. According to Derrickson, however, the story was not chosen with this background in mind, as he was completely unaware of Hill’s lineage at the time he first noticed the associated short story collection, 20th Century Ghosts. Producer Jason Blum and deuteragonist Ethan Hawke complete the quartet, which already caused quite a stir in the horror genre with Sinister in 2012.

Here’s what it’s about

Finney and his younger sister have to deal with the usual youth problems of the 70s in a small town near Colorado. Differences are still settled with fists and not with words. But basically the two don’t know any different, because their alcoholic father is not a doldriver better and, with his highly depressive nature, tends to be quick to resort to beatings as well. Finally, he has it in for young Gwen, who seems to find clues to the local serial murders in her dreams and only wants to help the investigating officers. Her father, however, does not believe this humbug at all. Everything changes, however, when suddenly Finney doesn’t show up at home either and has apparently been captured and abducted by the so-called “Grabber”. A fight for survival begins.

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Review

THE BLACK PHONE is clearly a mystery-horror film that could only have been made in modern times. In the style of STRANGER THINGS, IT and various other modern retro productions, which put children at the centre of a 70s storyline and place a suspenseful and triggering story around them, Derrickson also follows this trend. However, his good hand as well as a subtle feeling for rousing stories and a much deeper story ensure that this work stands out from the masses and should only partially be considered a horror flick. Instead, the US director and screenwriter leads us on the trail of the domestic past, linking reality with literary fiction and finally with experiences from his own youth.

Even the German subtitle, which once again is not included in the original name and can be considered completely superfluous, gives us a hint that the film team wants to tell more than just a scary film and takes the audience on a journey that unfortunately people still have to go through today. Derrickson links grandiose abduction films like ROOM with a change of perspective that at times tries to give us a little more insight into the perpetrator figure, but still sticks mainly to the victim. He manages to establish a plot that has its appeal even without mystery and horror elements and is shocking enough in itself on several levels.

Success with simple means

In doing so, he has shown a fine knack for casting his roles. It is no longer a secret that Ethan Hawke can enrich any film, and so he manages to immerse himself in the antagonist role brilliantly and to disguise himself so massively that he is hardly recognisable. Main character Mason Thames does his job quite well, but comes across as very generic and doesn’t distinguish himself enough from other guys from the horror works already compared. The big difference is made by his fellow actress Madeleine McGraw, who is a feast for the eyes and delivers a terrific performance. Especially in the first part of the film she can be seen quite often in the centre of the action, but is unfortunately increasingly neglected later on. She manages to really liven up the dialogues with the various adult characters and to immediately inspire them with her impulsive and at the same time charming manner. She brings her anger to the point both mimically and vocally.

In the visual design, the team relies on rather simple set designs that are meant to be close to the style of the 70s, as are the costume, make-up and hairstyling. The three-piece mask in particular offers potential for the next Halloween trend. A significant part of the plot focuses on a single room, which in reality offers around 72 square metres of space and is depicted in a much more squat way in the film. Bare walls, a simple mattress, barred windows and a nonsensical door provide us with an almost completely empty room in which only an unplugged telephone seems out of place. As soon as we get to know more of the basement, however, the eerie fear fades quite quickly and gives way to total irritation, which is characterised by an easy-to-scrape-up earth floor, pointlessly existing carpets, an indefinable rope and seemingly superhuman powers of the protagonist. Sure, a ringing phone without a connection causes consternation, but this effect fades the more often it is applied.

Horror cinema or kidnapping drama?

This brings us to the biggest shortcoming: everything seems so perfectly imperfect. In all the fear and hopelessness that is supposed to be conveyed here, the coincidences seem to occur far too much in favour of the protagonist, which tears the audience a little out of the magically eerie scenery and transports them back to the unfortunately somewhat too artificial reality, which is also laced with a not inconsiderable amount of superfluous mystery. Instead of presenting us with a boy who falls into a psychic madness, we are left with a somewhat absurd metaphysical idea that doesn’t want to fit at all into a film that has many disturbing parallels with reality. Fortunately, however, composer Mark Korven always manages to lift the mood and thus the dramaturgy a little with his dramatically eerie music and to provide a strong contrast with carefully selected songs such as Free Ride and Restless.

The jump-scare culture in modern horror, on the other hand, seems to be largely over, which is not always tragic, as it has often been used somewhat inflationarily. In THE BLACK PHONE we can expect two such frightening moments, which are absolutely the right dose and find excellent use. They are not expected and at the same time they shock properly. Apart from that, there is little that reminds us of a horror film, but much more of a kidnapping drama immersed in sepia, whose antagonist is an almost 1:1 copy of Pennywise, which closes the circle to the relationship of Joe Hill, the originator, to Stephen King, and thus it should also be roughly clear on which level of production we are moving.

Conclusion

THE BLACK PHONE – SPRICH NIE MIT FREMDEN is basically a quite decent little shocker film that shows us how quickly and horribly a child abduction can happen. The special cinematic appeal that a story about a ruthless serial killer brings with it can unfortunately only be played out to a limited extent, but it relies on an acceptable overall story that also scores points in the small side stories and does not focus exclusively on one theme. Director Derrickson has definitely managed to captivate me emotionally and make me root for him, but repeatedly messes up this wonderful feeling with strange coincidences and ideas that are more like deus ex machina. In any case, Madeleine McGraw, who really excelled in her part and who we will soon see again in THE HARBINGER and CAPTAIN TSUNAMI’S ARMY, remains in my memory.

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