The Blumhouse horror film The Black Phone has a lot of impressive elements. It has a strong cast, a stand-out villain, and a story that is hard to look away from. It's also based on the well-crafted short story from the talented Joe Hill. While the premise is absolutely scary, as The Grabber is taking kids, keeping them in a basement, and murdering them, there is a lot more going on here.
The child characters in the story are suffering every single day, as they have to face abuse and pain that no one should, regardless of their age. This overall setting contributes to a feeling of dread that persists throughout the movie's entire run time. The Black Phone is gritty, real, and honest about how some kids tragically lack the love and family support that they deserve.
While The Black Phone's villain The Grabber is a letdown in some ways, the movie is still absolutely horrifying and that's thanks to the struggles that the child characters face every day. The child actors in The Black Phones are impressive, as Madeleine McGraw and Mason Thames play a sister and brother named Gwen and Finney who live in Denver in the late '70s. Their world is a brutal and sad one as their father Terrence Blake (Jeremy Davies) is an alcoholic who abuses them and then leaves them alone the rest of the time. The kids are burdended by him, equally scared of him and wanting to be accepted by him.
Director and co-writer Scott Derrickson shared with The Hollywood Reporter that he thought carefully about the disturbing scene when Terrence hits Gwen with an object for telling the police that she had psychic dreams related to The Grabber. Derrickson said, “I thought, ‘I don’t want to see this kid actually getting hit.’ So the very first strike happens offscreen. She’s below the counter, and it’s more his rage that’s upsetting. And then her really emotional performance, most of that occurs when she stands back up and has this long face-off with him. He’s got the belt raised, but he never actually hits her again. And so that was all worked out very specifically in choreography.”
While it's true that audiences don't actually see this violence, it's still upsetting and a nod to the darkness that the siblings encounter on a daily basis. It's unimaginable to think about what life is like for these kids. While Ethan Hawke's villain The Grabber could take them at any second, Gwen and Finney have to live in a house where they don't feel safe or loved, except for the compassion that they have for each other. Some of The Black Phone's most memorable quotes are definitely scary, and that includes every time that Terrence talks to his children.
While home is a tough place where Gwen and Finney miss their mom who passed away, school isn't any better. Finney faces bullies who have no problem beating him up, and the one bright spot is Robin (Miguel Cazarez Mora), who defends Finney and teaches him how to be a bit tougher and have a bit more self-confidence.
The best horror movie settings are the woods, a college campus, or a charming small town. And in this case, the fact that The Black Phone is set in a city in 1978 where kids don't feel loved at home and are terrified of a man kidnapping their friends and classmates is incredibly effective. Finney and Gwen have had to grow up incredibly fast because of the abuse they have suffered, and Finney knows that he has the strength to escape from The Grabber's lair because he has been standing up for himself and his sister for so long.
McGraw told Bloody Disgusting that she likes how tough Gwen is and how she sticks up to grown-ups: the actor said of a moment when her character is sassy, “Well, when we were filming that scene after each take, everyone started laughing and when we saw it. Mason and I saw it privately in the theater and started laughing. I’m pretty sure Scott said that was one of his favorite scenes because she does rip them a new one. I think it is one of my favorite scenes, too, because it’s super funny.”
The bond that Finney and Gwen share is important and leads to the strong ending as she is able to help save him. If they didn't suffer so much, then the conclusion wouldn't be as powerful. While it's unnerving watching The Grabber steal Finney and keep him in a gross basement, and it's horrible thinking about all of the children whose lives he ended, the everyday horrors that these kids go through are incredibly terrifying.