The Black Phone is an effective film mixed dark elements.

In 2012 Sinister one of the most popular horror films of the 2012 was released, Scott Derrickson did a fantastic job with the movie. What followed wasn’t exactly great both Deliver Us From Evil and Doctor Strange were a huge step down from Sinister. Luckily The Black Phone completely turns things around and even arguably tops Sinister. The performances here are very strong, Ethan Hawke gives a terrifying performance that really captures the atmosphere of a deranged person. Mason Thames and Madeline McGraw are both fantastic well, who have a very believable brother and sister relationship. In fact it’s one of the better type of relationships I’ve seen in awhile, which is mainly due to the script that while is simple it is still quite effective. The jumpscares are actually well done as well, what makes these ones so successful is build up. Often times some movies completely forget about the build up to a jumpscare and use them like there’s no tomorrow, Derrickson makes sure to creativity build each on up so they can get under the viewer’s skin. The writing also invests the viewer quite well which in the end builds everything together, what really makes the film is the atmosphere it’s a bit surprisingly disturbing for a film that was released from a pretty mainstream studio (Blumhouse) the atmosphere adds to that by giving the characters a more human approach and not filled with cliches. Overall The Black Phone is a really strong horror film that I recommend!!

The Black Phone releases on Friday!

9/10 A