Rating: 8.5
This was a fantastic horror movie… and it's rare that I have so much praise for a film in this genre! This did terrify me and very much creeped me out, but I was so enthralled by the story and the filmmaking that I fell in love with this film! It handles suspense, tension and atmosphere so well, thanks to Scott Derrickson’s excellent direction. While I love his work on the first “Doctor Strange”, this is easily his best film! It has Stephen King sensibilities to it, and even felt like a horror version of “Stand By Me” at times (could be because the short story this is based on was written by King’s son). The premise of the film was very intriguing and unique to me. I loved how the supernatural elements were used as an aid to the character rather than a threat, with the true threat being real world elements. And they really delivered on this premise, it worked so well for me! When you hear about it, it may sound quite cheesy and cookie cutter, but Derrickson really found such interesting ways to make it all work and feel so special.
The film goes a little deeper than just relying on cheap jump scares and creepy imagery, that being said, there were a few legendary jump scares that were built up so well and made everyone in my audience (for lack of a better term) lose their shit. I liked that it didn’t over use theses, and instead told a slower paced mystery with some excellent use of atmosphere. It just feels creepy and unnerving, with many camera movements creating these feelings of discomfort and dread. The slow pans in this movie were especially effective, I loved how something as simple as that could make me so scared and anxious. The film’s mystery was also fantastic, and really sucks you in right from the start. I wished that we would have gotten a few more answers about The Grabber at the end, but sometimes it is good enough to just say he was a fucking creep. Ethan Hawke was perfect in this role, he was so wild and disturbing. His mannerisms and slight movements were what really made him stand out here, and they were SO creepy. Even his mask was frightening to look at. I loved how just due to the writing of the character and the performance, he was scarier than any of the supernatural stuff in the film. I loved the way it showed the real world threats to be more frightening than anything supernatural, and it was so clever how they used and shot the phone conversations with the ghosts. Mason Thames was also fantastic as the lead, he really sold everything so well, but my favourite character was his sister played by Madeleine McGraw. She had a lot more to do in the plot than I expected, had quite an interesting ability and brought a nice note of humour and sass to the film! The rest of the child actors were not anything special, and some of their dialogue wasn’t too great either. I didn’t think the film needed to take as long as it did in the beginning, we didn’t really need the bullying stuff at all.
One other great thing I loved about this, besides the excellent writing, directing and acting? The way they so authentically set this film in the 70s. If you would have told me this was made in the 70s I would have believed you. The production design, costuming and feel of the time period was so well done. Even the soundtrack was great! They threw in some awesome 70s songs, which somehow worked perfectly with the bone-chilling score. I was very into this movie, it's one of my favourite horror films of the last few years! It uses suspense, atmosphere and tension so well, and tells a really interesting and creepy mystery story! I highly recommend this, it's an excellent film that is so different from what you would expect… and I loved that!
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IMDb Rating: 7.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84%
RT Audience Score: 90%
Metacritic Score: 65
CinemaScore: B+
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Universal
Directed by Scott Derrickson
Screenplay by Scott Derrickson & C. Robert Cargill
Based on the short story by Joe Hill
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Jeremy Davies, James Ransome
Runtime: 1hr 42min
Rating: 14A
Horror
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After being abducted by a child killer and locked in a soundproof basement, a 13-year-old boy starts receiving calls on a disconnected phone from the killer's previous victims.
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Fun Fact: Joe Hill, the writer of the book this film is adapted from, is the son of long time horror writer Stephen King.
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