The Black Phone: Better Late Than Never, and Worth Every Minute
I have a bone to pick with all of you. Somehow you let me go this long without watching The Black Phone , and I am genuinely disappointed in us both. But here we are, and I have since corrected that mistake, so let's get into it. I finally sat down with this one on a day off while nursing a sick kid, which tells you everything about my current season of life. What I expected was something I would have to turn off halfway through. What I got was one of the more quietly affecting horror films I have seen in a long time. Directed by Scott Derrickson and based on a short story by Joe Hill, The Black Phone follows Finney Blake, a young boy growing up in a small town already weighed down by bullying, an alcoholic and abusive father, and the grief of losing his mother. The town itself is living under a shadow: a child serial killer known as the Grabber has been snatching kids, and Finney eventually becomes one of his victims. What unfolds from there is part supernatural thriller, part...