A serial killer known as The Grabber has been abducting boys. When he takes 13 year old Finney is taken, he starts to receive phone calls via a disconnected black phone that hangs in the place where he is kept…call apparently from the previous victims…

The Black Phone is based on a short story by Joe Hill. The film was written by Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill. To make it clear, I haven’t read the short story. But Derrickson and Cargill did write the creepy Sinister as well as the first Doctor Strange film together.

The opening of the film is great, capturing the late 70’s setting very well indeed. We also great well written character development between Finney and his younger sister Gwen, a girl who has dreams that seem to reveal little details about The Grabber. Their father is an abusive drunk, who tries (in a very uncomfortable scene to watch) to beat the dreams out of Gwen, something that her mother had too.

As Finney tries to get himself free, with the voices on the calls helping him, which all cleverly combine in the final act and Gwen finds her dreams helping track down where The Grabber is, there is a growing tension in the film.

But in some ways, while the films opening act and closing one are both great, there’s something missing in that middle section. Yes there is tension, but at the same time, there is a feeling it’s all too easy. In a strange way it feels like a horror film made for children, albeit with a couple of scenes of brutal violence. There’s no scares at all.

The performances from Mason Thames as Finney and Ethan Hawke as The Grabber are great. Thames convincing as a boy toughening himself up to fight for his life, while Hawke is suitably creepy as The Grabber, even with his face mostly obscured by a mask. Jeremy Davies is good Terrance, as Finney and Gwen’s father. But it is Madeleine McGraw as Gwen who gives the best performance. She is brilliant.

The film is well directed by Derrickson, the score is great as is the period setting. There is a lot to like in The Black Phone. It fits in with the likes of IT Chapter One, Stranger Things and Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark. But if anything, the closer film would be the brilliant and under-seen 2018 film, Summer Of 84.

And while The Black Phone is not bad, Summer Of 84 deals with the subject of serial killers and children so much better.

Rating: *** out of 5