“The Black Phone” wants to scare you with a phone. That is its whole premise, and it mostly delivers. The 2022 horror film, directed by Scott Derrickson, follows Finney Shaw as he is kidnapped by a serial killer and held in a basement where he hears voices from a mysterious black telephone. It is a tight, claustrophobic setup that should work. Mostly, it does.
Trailer, via Universal Pictures.
Finney Shaw’s Captivity
Finney Shaw is a teenager who gets snatched from his home and stuffed into a basement. He can hear voices coming from a black telephone. The killer, Mr. Bickle, thinks he is alone. Finney is not.
Derrickson stages the captivity scenes with a grim sense of dread. The basement is dark, damp, and utterly isolated. Finney’s fear feels real because the space around him feels real. The film leans into the quiet, the waiting, and the small sounds that mean something. It is effective.
The Voices on the Line
The black telephone is the film’s central gimmick. Finney hears voices from other victims who have died in the past. They offer advice, warnings, and occasionally jokes. It is a clever way to build tension without showing a jump scare.
The problem is that the voices are not always clear. Some feel like exposition, dumping backstory instead of offering genuine help. Others are funny in a way that breaks the mood. The telephone should be a constant threat. Instead, it becomes a device for comic relief.
Mr. Bickle’s Threat
Mr. Bickle is a serial killer with a routine. He picks his victims, brings them home, and disposes of them. He is not a monster with fangs. He is a man who has a system. That makes him scarier than a slasher with a knife.
Joseph Quinn plays Mr. Bickle with a calm, almost paternal menace. He explains his actions with a logic that is chilling precisely because it is so human. There is no supernatural element to his evil. He is just a man who has decided that some lives are disposable. That is a harder kind of horror to watch.
The Twist Ending
The final act of “The Black Phone” takes a sharp turn. Without spoiling too much, the film reveals that Finney is not quite who he seems. This twist changes the entire reading of the story. It is a bold move, and it lands.
The reveal shifts the audience’s relationship to Finney. Suddenly, the hero’s perspective is less reliable than we thought. It is a clever trick, but it also means the earlier scenes lose some of their weight. A twist can rewrite everything. It can also make you question what you were watching before it happened.
The Technical Craft
Derrickson directs with a steady hand. The camera stays close to Finney’s face, trapping the viewer in his terror. The lighting is dim and oppressive. The sound design is excellent, making the ringing of the black telephone a constant menace.
The performances hold the film together. Finney is played with a quiet desperation that keeps him sympathetic even when he makes bad decisions. Quinn is excellent as Mr. Bickle, playing the killer with a deadpan precision that makes him truly unsettling.
Where It Falls Short
“The Black Phone” is not a great horror movie. It is a good one. The pacing drags in the middle, especially after the twist is revealed. Some scenes feel padded, adding nothing new to the tension. The humor, while occasionally effective, often undercuts the horror.
The film also leans heavily on its source material. Fans of Joe Hill’s novel will see familiar beats throughout. That is not necessarily a flaw, but it does mean the originality is limited. The best moments are the ones that stretch beyond the page, and there are plenty of those.
Final Score
“The Black Phone” is a solid, if uneven, horror film. It is at its best when it trusts the simplicity of a boy trapped in a basement with a haunted phone. It is at its worst when it tries to explain too much or chase cheap laughs.
The final score is 6.5 out of 10. That reflects a film that knows what it wants to do and mostly does it, but stumbles in the execution.
- Director: Scott Derrickson
- Lead actor: Finney Shaw
- Villain: Mr. Bickle
- Release year: 2022
- Score: 6.5 of 10
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