Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
Finney Blake, a shy but clever 13-year-old boy, is abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of little use. When a disconnected phone on the wall begins to ring, Finney discovers that he can hear the voices of the killer’s previous victims. And they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney.
The Black Phone is a solidly crafted supernatural horror-thriller elevated significantly by its performances. Mason Thames as Finney is remarkably assured, and Ethan Hawke's menacing, masked Grabber is genuinely unsettling — the acting is the film's standout quality, earning a 4. The plot is engaging and well-paced, blending 1970s period texture with supernatural phone-call conceits, though it follows a fairly predictable survival arc without major surprises. Cinematography is competent and period-appropriate with a gritty, grainy aesthetic, but not especially inventive. Novelty is moderate — the dead-victims-as-helpers via a disconnected phone is a clever hook, but the overall framework (child kidnapping, basement captivity, serial killer) treads familiar genre ground. The ending delivers satisfying closure and a strong cathartic moment, though it doesn't subvert expectations in any meaningful way.