"Black Phone" - a horror in the spirit of Stephen King with social overtones
Miscellaneous / / July 25, 2022
You have to decide which is worse - an alcoholic father or a maniac.
The other day, the online premiere of the painting "Black Phone" took place. The film, with the slogan "Never Talk to Strangers", grossed over $130 million at the box office and showed why it's better not to communicate with men who drive a black van.
The action takes place in an American town where a child abductor has wound up. 13-year-old Finn, who lives with his alcoholic father and psychic sister, becomes another victim of a maniac. A masked man kidnaps a child and locks him in his basement. The protagonist loses contact with the outside world, but past victims come to the rescue - they call him on a black phone. Clues from dead children become the only hope for salvation.
Directed by Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange, Sinister, The Six Demons of Emily Rose). The role of the villain was played by Ethan Hawke (“Training Day”, “Judgment Night”, “Assault on the 13th Precinct”). The film is based on a story by Joe Hill, son of Stephen King. Perhaps that's why The Black Phone is so similar to King's classics.
How Stephen King's Legacy Is Used
The Black Phone looks like a guide to early Stephen King's work. The elements characteristic of the writer determine not so much the plot as the atmosphere.
Provincial America
Stephen King, at the beginning of his writing career, realized that a quiet province is an excellent backdrop for terrible events. Therefore, in the works of the writer, Maine became the main territory of horror. In The Black Phone, the suburb of Denver plays the role of the outback.
The picture masterfully immerses the viewer in the atmosphere of the province from the first minutes. Everything feels warm and familiar, evoking nostalgia. The idyll of a quiet provincial life is transmitted through baseball games and conversations about studies.
The Ordinariness of Horror
At the same time, evil does not appear unexpectedly in history - it is always next to the heroes, calmly exists in the friendly atmosphere of the hinterland.
Residents of a provincial town know each other, a private loss turns into a common grief - but even mutual understanding does not help protect against evil, everyone still thinks only about himself. This problem becomes one of the engines of the Black Phone plot.
Lost Children
Black Phone tells a gruesome story from the point of view of an injured child. Children Facing Evil is almost a canon story from Stephen King, especially an early one. We saw it in It, Carrie, Children of the Corn.
Through the prism of children's perception, horror is perceived differently - it becomes more absolute, all-encompassing.
Why horror isn't scary
The atmosphere of a quiet province is lulling, which is good for horror - it's easier to scare the viewer. But Black Phone is not going to do that.
predictable plot
The Black Telephone has a simple plot, the development of which is quite easy to predict. The scriptwriters hang the guns in the most visible place, and the operator additionally highlights them. The viewer simply does not have room for thought - the first assumption about the next plot twist always turns out to be correct.
30 minutes after the start of the viewing, you can accurately predict everything that will happen until the very end.
Due to the predictability of the plot, the viewer is safe, nothing threatens him. As a result, horror becomes toothless.
adult children
"Black Phone" tells the story through the prism of children's perception, but the children themselves turned out to be strange. The characters behave like adults, which makes it hard for them to empathize.
«very strange things” differed favorably from other representatives of the genre precisely because they managed to show real children there - naive and unaware of life, but believing in the supernatural. "Black phone" failed to create a world of schoolchildren. They were given a bunch of attributes (love for horror films, passion for space), but, apart from external signs, there is nothing.
boring villain
The artists came up with a simple mask for Ethan Hawke, in which he spends the entire film. Because of her, the viewer does not see the game of an excellent actor, and the character himself becomes cardboard.
The character has nothing but a mask.
Finn is not the first victim of a maniac, but the writers do not even try to explain the reasons why the villain kidnaps children. It is also not clear what exactly he does with them. The previous crimes are needed only to show that the villain spares no one.
However, without reasons and explanations, any story becomes more convenient for interpretation.
What social problems does the Black Phone talk about?
What it lacks in action, it makes up for in scope for interpretation. The Black Phone can be viewed as a social drama about violence against children, and from several angles at once.
Adults are dangerous to children
Fall into the hands of a kidnapper or stay at home with an alcoholic father who is ready to whip a child for the slightest prank... Each of these options carries a danger for the protagonist.
A missing boy will only be safe if he runs away from both his kidnapper and his father.
sadistic father and maniac similar, and this is emphasized visually. Both often fall asleep on chairs in living rooms. Both are untidy, selfish, and when communicating with children, they alternate between rudeness and the illusion of care.
The only difference between them is that one legally sets limits and rules for children, while the second does not, even if in both cases the prohibitions harm children.
Well, the maniac has no name, no history, no face. Therefore, in it you can see a certain collective image of domestic violence. An adult man uses his power and strength without thinking about how this will affect the child.
You can only rely on yourself and your peers
In the world of dangerous adults, it is simply necessary to learn how to fight evil. And you can only expect help from children. Peer violence can be stopped by a strong classmate or sister, not by a teacher or father. When fighting a maniac, children also turn out to be more valuable units (even if they are dead). Police officers can search long and hard for the kidnapper, but without the help of a child, their efforts will not work.
Who should watch "Black Phone"
The film will definitely appeal to fans of the early Stephen King. Almost all of the writer's recent film adaptations concerned only his later works, "Black Phone" rather refers to the times "pet cemeteriesand Carrie. At the same time, social criticism creates a double bottom, making the narrative more alive.
But fans of truly scary horror, as well as lovers of twisted plots, may get bored while watching. "Black Phone" does not try to play with the viewer, leaving him the opportunity to meditatively understand the root of evil.
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