The Black Phone 4K 2021 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

Suburban Denver, 1978. Teenagers have been going missing in the neighborhood for some time now, but 13-year-old Finn is more concerned about not running into school bullies or angering his irascible father. The only person who understands him is his little sister. But one day Finn falls into the clutches of a maniac and comes to his senses in a soundproof basement. It seems that there is no hope for salvation, but soon on the disconnected phone guy begins to call the previous victims of the killer.

Review 4K Movie

In the glorious town of Danver, where they don't lock their doors at night and the people are friendly....

No, this is a different Danver, where fathers drink vodka at night and school bullies beat the weak into meat. Here the skies are gray and soft autumn leaves cover the secrets of the town. You could start that way. Only there is no mystery. There are stereotypical tired cops, the same busy adults, and a magician, and unlike everyone else - sleepy, and busy with household chores - he's not bored.

How can you be bored if you have a private torture chamber for naughty children? And they're getting scarce in the neighborhood. Now there's a kid who's experiencing the hardships of adolescence.

Joe Hill's demonic vision. The author does a great job of bringing out such a thing as teenage angst and tragedy within the confines of a short story. Black Phone was, to me, a quality sketch on the theme of everyday evil that can grab in broad daylight, and, with all the absurdity, take an innocent life. The question was looming - how to screen qualitatively, in order to preserve the spirit of the work?

The answer was found under the name of Derrickson, the head of the studio Blumhouse is not mistaken, if attract, - the author with a full hand. So Scott created a bright horror tale about a maniac and a brave boy, who is destined to grow up mentally by hours in the walls of the casemate, and if possible, to survive. I didn't get much of a kick out of King's 'Stay with me' imagery at first, all the subtleties of growing up from the last century. But then, then the darkness descended..... Scott Darrickson takes his time to build up the atmosphere of the narrative. His city is a collection of helpless people, where reality is a basement with a child locked in it. And a monster, that willy-nilly, and not straining to prepare for the next 'triumph' of the victim.

Together with the protagonist Finny I found myself in a cold wasteland, at the same time in full view of everyone, and far away, where literally everything screams that not even your body will be found. Terror stiffens with every phone call, each descending cellar master a nerve-racking, hope-killing charge. Graber makes sure that both strength and spirit leave young bodies before his main entertainment.

Ethan Hawke is insanely evil. Psychopath, which gives you goosebumps, because Ethan embodied not a clown, but a cold-blooded maniac, who is not devoid of charisma, humorously savoring such a phenomenon as child death. Let me make it clear - Hawke sets the tone of the movie, a kind of bitterness with a taste of death. His appearances as Graber are not that much, they are just enough for the viewer to realize that there will be no hope, torture, pain and a demo version of Hell await the victim. I must say that lately Hokku has been doing well with gloomy images. This one is no exception. Darrikson threw the psycho from the source material out into the cold and modeled his own frightening image. The character really reeks of insanity.

Scott Derrickson kind of makes it clear that, despite the source material, he has the main say as the author, and it feels that way. Remember Sinister.

Metamorphosis of the character of trapped Finney dances on the edge of horror, and gradually the hero gets used to this very horror, adapts, but it does not cancel the presence of a cunning and well-thought-out beast in disguise. Here again comparisons with King and his breakdown of the psychology of a teenager are appropriate, but, here it's a matter of genetics, I think.

The Black Phone granted me total immersion in the story. An example of how you can adapt a short novel in principle, and at the same time - not missing all the subtleties of suspense, but only competently present them. The minus, this is purely personal opinion, is only a very long disclosure of the character of Finney, it is understandable, as a fan of antagonists I would have given more time to Graber-y. But even without that, - quality work, and the juices of the horror atmosphere took me to a place from which teenagers do not return, inhabited only by memoryless souls. Yes there is a shiny new antagonist in the Blumhouse Studios horror box, which can't be a bad thing. The aftertaste of the basement premise has yet to leave me after the session.