The Black Phone
2021
North Denver, CO
Scott Derrickson
Creepy Killer Thriller
What’s it all about: After visiting Winona Ryder on the set of Stranger Things, Ethan Hawke decides he can go one better by turning the nostalgia clock back to 1978 and killing all the precocious kids himself. By now, the best psychotic-killer masks have all been taken, so Ethan is left with 👺
Prostitute Index: nil
Death By: The Grabber
Relics: meeting to fight before school; iconic 70s accessories on every person in attendance at a high school baseball game (calm down, wardrobe!); watching “Emergency!” on a tube tv; the deep 70s childhood fear of getting stuck inside a fridge
Hoops: a killer who is a little extra for no reason, releasing signature black balloons when he nabs a kid; the menacing father who serves as a second monster
Heartthrobs: Mason Thames, Tristan Pravong
Pass/Fails the Test of Time: Jeremy Davies
LoFi Magic: Ethan Hawke styled in a bloodstained Reality Bites-era retro bowling shirt
Makes me want to: see a movie set in the 70s that doesn’t look like a sun-faded polaroid.
Candotti Take: “Stranger Things without ghosts.”
Worth a watch/rewatch: Yes
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