Duration: 103 minutes
Director: Scott Derrickson
Actors: Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Ethan Hawke
America
Genre: Horror, Violence, Adventure
Premiere: June 24, 2022
The Black Phone (English title: The Black Phone) is a horror film adapted from a story written by the son of writer Stephen King, set in the 70s of the last century with content revolving around the loss of life. The mysterious remains of children in the Denver area – USA. The quality of the movie causes division between praise and criticism, so Tip review wants to go to theaters to see if the movie is as scary as people say? Now, let’s review the movie Black Phone to find the answer. Come on, let’s get started!
Plot: Set in America in 1973, Black Phone is a story about a series of mysterious disappearances of students caused by the same scary masked kidnapper. Finney is the next unfortunate victim, but luckily he receives help from deceased ghosts and his younger sister Gwen who has special telepathic abilities. Will Finney be able to escape from that pervert?!
Overall, Black Phone is an average scary horror movie with a few jump scares. Everything in the movie is told in a relatively lengthy way but still creates attraction for viewers. The feeling of watching Black Phone is not boring but not groundbreaking enough to impress the audience, especially the movie still leaves a lot of big question marks because the details have not been satisfactorily explained. Let’s review Tip to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of Black Phone to better understand the movie.
Plus mark:
According to Tipreview, the biggest plus point of Black Phone is the acting of a cast that is relatively unknown to Vietnamese audiences. All the actors played their roles very well and thanks to the interactions between the characters, viewers forgot the boring feeling of the plot. The best acting in the film is Madeleine McGraw as Gwen with extremely natural and lovely expressions, completely overwhelming the other main roles. Although there are controversies about the quality of the movie, surely audiences who watch Black Phone will agree that the biggest highlight of the movie is Madeleine’s extremely excellent role-playing ability.
Another praiseworthy point to mention when talking about Black Phone is the music. The music used in the film has a somewhat sinister, dangerous feel, and has an American influence in the 70s of the last century, but is also catchy and evokes the viewer’s emotions relatively well. The film’s setting, costumes and colors help bring out the atmosphere of the era, while also bringing a few jump scare scenes that are a bit startling for the faint of heart.
The film’s messages about family love and painful problems in America such as racism, violence, and school violence are all portrayed relatively well. Although the story is told slowly, the film still has a certain appeal to viewers, especially the ending is quite complete and enough to satisfy the audience.
Weakness:
With a duration of 103 minutes, Black Phone gives the feeling that the movie lasts more than 2 hours because the narrative is quite long and drawn out even though the content is very simple. However, the film’s story was not clearly explained by the producers but left many things in limbo, leaving viewers to think and feel confused like it was a joke. For example, the kidnapper’s motives, methods of action, and crimes are huge question marks that the film owes the audience. Therefore, it unintentionally makes viewers feel confused and their experience with the movie drops dramatically.
The effects of Black Phone are in the category of medium-budget films, so they do not leave a deep impression on viewers. The horror level of the movie is not high, so don’t expect too much or you will be disappointed. However, the film’s violence seems not very suitable for students because it is a bit heavy and not very educational. In addition, the villain and the male protagonist have not really left a deep impression on the viewers’ minds.
Assessment scale:
IMDB: 7.3/10 (20,000 reviews)
Google: 92/100
Rotten Tomatoes: 65/100 (Fresh Tomatoes)
Tip review: 6.3/10 (Normal)
In short, Black Phone is a horror movie of average quality. The movie is still quite worth watching and engaging even though the story is told relatively simply and the narrative is somewhat convoluted, long and drawn out. The film seems dangerous on the outside, but many details are not handled thoroughly and explained clearly, so the viewer’s experience with the film is not really good. Don’t set too high expectations about movie quality, you will feel Black Phone is better!
-BatmanHCM-
And you, how do you rate this movie?
