The Black Phone // El Teléfono Negro (Review) [ESP/ENG]

Hello Hive community, it's been a few days since I created my account and made my first introduction post where I promised I would talk about movies from time to time. For work reasons I had not yet been able to take some time to sit down and watch a movie and much less to start writing, that's why I had not been able to start with my posts. But yesterday I got some free time and I was able to sit down and watch "The Black Phone" a movie from 2021 that I was really looking forward to and that I was finally able to catch. Without further add, here we go

Since the trailer came out last year, I and quite a few people in my social networks were very interested in this movie and it is that from the premise the film moves away from the usual horror plots of recent years. And the fact is that Blumhouse, which is the production house, has been characterized by betting on this type of horror films with a different proposal. Some that I can highlight would be: Paranormal Activity, The Purge and Get Out, the acclaimed film by director Jordan Peele released in 2017. All of them at the time were a breath of fresh air for what horror movies had us used to.

Going back to the black phone, this felt like it could be one of those cases. The plot is set in 1978, north of Denver, USA. Children have been disappearing, victims of a sadistic, masked killer known as the raptor. The plot centers on Finney, the killer's latest victim, who manages to catch him and locks him in his basement, where there is only a toilet, a bed... and a broken black phone. The rest of the film we will see Finney's attempts to escape from the confinement and his kidnapper, but he will not be alone, he will have unexpected help from the particular phone. So much for the synopsis without spoilers.

As a personal opinion, I think the film starts off well, with a good idea and with aspects of the story that if they had been a little better developed would have turned it into a memorable horror film. Unfortunately it feels that there are aspects and elements of the film that don't connect, that are left over or as I said in previous lines, are poorly developed. To explain a little better why this is the case, here are some points that took me out of the experience.

Finney: Siento que fue el personaje mejor construido, quizá por ser el protagonista, es el que menos desencaja de la trama. Sin muchas pretensiones es el protagonista habitual de este tipo de películas: Niño promedio al cual le hacen bullying en clases el cual al final vence por encima del problema a pura astucia y fuerza interior. Bien interpretado por Mason Thames, no recuerdo haberlo visto antes pero me recuerda un poco a Tom Holland.

Finney: I feel he was the best constructed character, perhaps because he is the protagonist, he is the one who is the least disjointed of the plot. Without many pretensions he is the usual protagonist of this kind of movies: average kid who gets bullied in class but in the end he overcomes the problem by sheer cunning and inner strength. Well played by Mason Thames, I don't remember seeing him before but he reminds me a bit of Tom Holland.

La hermana: Finney tiene una hermana menor, Gwen con la cual tengo sentimientos encontrados respecto al personaje. Me gusta porque al igual que el anterior, está muy bien actuado y tiene buena química con el actor protagónico, aparte de ser muy girlpower PEEEERO hay un pequeño detalle, tiene poderes. Gwen tiene la habilidad de ver en sueños a los niños que han sido asesinados por el raptor ¿Por qué? Porque la trama así lo necesita, para que al final de la película los policías puedan dar con la casa del raptor sin mucho esfuerzo.

The sister: Finney has a younger sister, Gwen with whom I have mixed feelings about the character. I like her because like the previous one, she is very well acted and has good chemistry with the lead actor, apart from being very girlpower BUUUT there is a small detail, she has powers. Gwen has the ability to see in her dreams the children who have been killed by the kidnapper Why? Because the plot needs it, so that at the end of the movie the cops can find the kidnapper's house without much effort.

El raptor: El villano, interpretado por Ethan Hawke que casi siempre es garantía de un buen personaje tambien flaquea. En teoría tiene todo para ser un villano entrañable pero no se nos da ni una pizca de desarrollo o motivación del porqué de sus acciones. Así sea mencionado por encima, dime algo, un pasado tortuoso, un desorden mental, sociopatía, algo. Al espectador se le deja a la imaginación casi todo con este personaje. A esto se le añade que a la hora de realizar sus raptos siempre lleva unos globos negros sin una razón aparente, solo para hacer al personaje más interesante supongo, porque tampoco aportan nada a la trama ni al lore del personaje.

The Raptor: The villain, played by Ethan Hawke who is almost always a guarantee of a good character also falters. In theory he has everything to be an endearing villain but we are not given a shred of development or motivation as to why his actions. Even if it is mentioned above, tell me something, a torturous past, a mental disorder, sociopathy, something. The viewer is left to the imagination with almost everything with this character. Add to this the fact that at the time of his abductions he always wears black balloons for no apparent reason, just to make the character more interesting I guess, because they don't add anything to the plot or the character's lore either.

Niños muertos: Cuando finney está en el sótano del homicida, descubre que el teléfono negro le permite hablar con los niños que murieron a manos del raptor antes que el, los cuales tratan de ayudarlo a salir del sótano. Al igual que los poderes de la hermana y las motivaciones e historia del raptor, si estas esperando una explicación de esto, puedes seguir esperando.

Dead kids: When Finney is in the murderer's basement, he discovers that the black phone allows him to talk to the children who died at the hands of the raptor before him, who try to help him get out of the basement. As well as the sister's powers and the raptor's motivations and history, if you're waiting for an explanation of this, you can keep waiting.

Hermano del raptor: Max el hermano del homicida, parecía que iba a ser un alivio cómico pero, intrascendente.

The Raptor's brother: Max, the brother of the murderer, looked like he was going to be comic relief but, inconsequential.

Papa de los niños: Apareció para enseñarnos que es mal padre y pegarle a la niña por tener poderes que podrían hacerlos millonarios.

Children's father: He appeared to show us that he is a bad father and beat the girl for having powers that could make them millionaires.

Policías: Creo que de todos los personajes estos son los más flojos e intrascendentes. Aparecen nada más para resaltarnos que Gwen tiene poderes, presionando para que hable de sus sueños, digo, lo típico que harían policías de verdad a la hora de tratar de resolver un caso guiarse por los sueños de una niña de 12 años. Si les sacas a estos dos personajes, la película funcionaría exactamente igual.

Cops: I think that of all the characters, these are the weakest and most inconsequential. They appear only to highlight the fact that Gwen has powers, pressuring her to talk about her dreams, I mean, the typical thing real cops would do when trying to solve a case, guided by the dreams of a 12 year old girl. If you take these two characters out, the movie would work exactly the same way.

El teléfono negro☎️: El elemento que le da nombre a la película y a mí entender el atractivo principal de esta a la hora de engancharnos. Siento que se le pudo haber exprimido un poco más. Si, es el vínculo entre Finney y los niños muertos que lo ayudan a liberarse pero no se nos explica nada de el. Su relación con el raptor, el porqué de estar ahí su vínculo con los niños. Cuando vi el tráiler pensé que las llamadas del teléfono podían estar en la mente del niño, como un instinto de autosupervivencia de cada quien, eso cuando pensé que era más un thriller psicológico. Luego, cuando se deja ver que el estilo de la película es otro, pensé que podía ser una conexión entre finney y los poderes de Gwen, pero tampoco. Entiendo que hay veces que el director o los guionistas dejan elementos a la imaginación del espectador para conservar la mística o que cada quien pueda darle su propia interpretación, pero siento que aquí no fue el caso, se usó al teléfono como un enganche para mostrar algo distinto pero luego se le dio un desarrollo flojo.

The black phone☎️: The element that gives the film its name and, in my opinion, the main attraction of the film when it comes to hooking us. I feel it could have been squeezed a little more. Yes, it's the bond between Finney and the dead children who help him break free but nothing is explained to us about him. His relationship with the raptor, why he is there his bond with the children. When I saw the trailer I thought the phone calls could be in the child's mind, like a self-survival instinct of each one, that when I thought it was more of a psychological thriller. Then, when it's let to see that the style of the movie is another, I thought it could be a connection between finney and Gwen's powers, but neither. I understand that there are times when the director or screenwriters leave elements to the imagination of the viewer to keep the mystique or that everyone can give their own interpretation, but I feel that here was not the case, the phone was used as a hook to show something different but then it was given a weak development.

Conclusión y datos random para cerrar.

Conclusion and random data to close.

I think it was a movie with a pretty big potential and as a concept something great but in the end it didn't know how to develop well. It's still perfectly passable if you have some free time and want to see something different. If you are looking for conventional horror movies with jumpscares or big scares, this movie is not for you. In fact even the moments of tension are scarce so I'm not sure in which subgenre of horror it should be included, if in the category of suspense or psychological horror.

The film is directed by Scott Derrickson, a very good director of mostly horror films, although he has also directed in other genres such as superheroes with the first Dr Strange movie. Among his notable films like The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Deliver Us from Evil and Sinister. This last one is my favorite and I will surely do a post about it later when I see it again.

A curious fact is that this is the second time we see Ethan Hawke and James Ransone together in a Blum house movie and from this same director (the first was Sinister), could it be that they are good friends of the latter?

With this I end my second post, I hope you like it and have consideration for being my first review. I will try to improve my writing between posts. Thanks for reading, I look forward to your opinions about the movie if you have already seen it and your review about my review.