The Black Phone

Name: The Black Phone
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Released: 2022-06-16
Duration: 103 min

Never talk to strangers.

20221h 43mcritics 7.5/10

Horror Thriller

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.

starring Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Ethan Hawke, Jeremy Davies

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from 112 comments

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what the internet says

FUN

how good a time it was

MEANINGFUL

how much it moved you

Two separate readings, not parts of the score — the score says how much of it held you, these say what kind of watch it was.

Nobody has rated this on FlickFeel yet. This is public discussion of this title, read into a curve. It is not a rating and it never becomes one.

Read from 112 comments (75 from Reddit, 30 from Metacritic, 7 from TMDB reviews) — 32 of them described how it moves.

➖ steady — Holds one level all the way. Pulled both ways throughout — never simply one thing. Very little of it ever resolves. Marked above the line: 1 moment that made people jump, 2 that landed as a blow, 2 that gave people chills, 1 that got a real laugh.

Hover the curveDrag across the curve to see what people said at any point.

height: how intense it got, 0–100
gold above: how tender it felt. violet below — what it cost. Thick on both at once means it was doing both.
tension rail: how much was still unresolved
marks: single moments — a jump, a blow, chills, a laugh
grey haze: how sure we are — wider means fewer people described it

what people actually wrote

Grouped by where it was written, because a considered review and a reaction typed an hour after the credits are different things. Every quote links to its source.

Reddit40 read

“some excellent high-tension sequences”
amish_novelty▲ 1,016about 0–100% inread it ↗
“I was so pleasantly surprised when she instead screamed "YOU DUMB FUCKING FART-KNOCKERS!" Truly an absolute gem of a line, and I can't get it out of my head. 🤣”
Due-Faithlessness673▲ 811about 33–66% inread it ↗
“That scene was honestly way scarier than everything with the Grabber. You knew what the deal was when the kids were tiptoeing around the dad, and then it just *explodes* into this horrific, brutal chaos -- and then this girl has to go back to saying "yes, Daddy" to this guy and act like everything's fine for the rest of the movie. It's so unsettlingly real.”
blueeyesredlipstick▲ 725about 0–100% inread it ↗
“The part where the Grabber wants him to try to escape and be a naughty boy really made the thing more scary and unpredictable because we don't know if Finny is acctually escaping for real or if the grabber is waiting on the other side.”
vortexgaming0212▲ 616about 0–100% inread it ↗

Metacritic16 read

“With all of the build-up and strange dialogue in the first half of the story, I was really expecting a bigger pay-off or major twist to tie the details together.”
CFL789about 0–50% inread it ↗
“But everything in the 2nd half of the movie was very predictable.”
CFL789about 50–100% inread it ↗
“The first half of this movie was really neat and had a lot of things to pay attention to.”
CFL789about 0–50% inread it ↗
“carried through until the climax”
ChrisNortonabout 75–100% inread it ↗

TMDB4 read

“the first half hour spent on way too much character establishment that really has very little to do with the gist of the story.”
CinemaSerfabout 0–15% inread it ↗
“Ethan Hawke in it and that should be the initial strike against it, but unfortunately it isn't the only one. The plot is basically, Ethan comes into the room with the kidnapped boy and gets owned by him. Then he comes in again, and gets owned again, then he comes in again, and gets owned again. The police blindly follow the leads of a 10 year old psychic girl who is, in this universe, a credible and reliable witness. Ethan walks into the room and gets owned again. The boy talks to t”
GenerationofSwineread it ↗
“FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://www.msbreviews.com/movie-reviews/the-black-phone-spoiler-free-review "The Black Phone carries a horror premise with a supernatural touch full of potential, but it plays too safe by betting on a narrative that's too simple, predictable, and repetitive. Scott Derrickson elevates his work with a distinct style, and the fact that the main focus belongs to the protagonists development rather than on generic jumpscares pleases me. Mason Thames and Madeleine ”
Manuel São Bentoread it ↗
“With supernatural dread lifted directly from the likes of _Stir of Echoes_ and _The Sixth Sense_, _The Black Phone_ features a breakthrough performance from Madeleine McGraw while Ethan Hawke’s hauntingly memorable turn as The Grabber is felt in a hair-raising sense; like someone who has unknowingly snuck up behind you and waits in your peripheral for that dramatic reveal. _The Black Phone_ is a solid, pulse racing horror film that packs a punch, but seems like the type of film that simply won’t”

The Black Phone

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