MOVIE REVIEW: The Black Phone

 

Set in the 1970s, this follows a young boy who gets abducted by a serial child killer. During his imprisonment, he starts getting calls from a black wall phone that isn’t connected to the outside world, these evidently coming from the previous victims of his captor. They lead him through a series of escape attempts, and teach him confidence against a seemingly insurmountable foe.

This film features a young actor named Mason Thames as the boy that is kidnapped, Madeleine McGraw as his sister, and Ethan Hawke as the psychotic child killer who goes by the name of The Grabber. The cast also includes Jeremy Davies as the boy’s father. It has a couple of scenes of physical child abuse, but otherwise there is only the story of the boy trying to escape his tormentor, and there is very little strong language. This is good for pre-teens, teaching the importance of not trusting strangers and the necessity of fighting against their would-be abductor(s) if the need arises. Otherwise, it is a good, tense, suspenseful movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Well worth the watch.