The Black Phone

"Stranger Things" seems to have opened a door, a gateway I suppose, to Gen-Xers' nostalgic hunger of 70s and 80s horror films. We have had a splatter of very recent examples; "Fear Street: 1978," "American Horror Story: 1984," and "X" (set in 1979) to name a few. Now we have "The Black Phone," set in 1978 in a Colorado suburb. Kids are disappearing and the only clue left behind, a sinister black balloon. Meanwhile Finney (played by the wonderful Mason Thames) is being picked on in middle school by bullies - Finney needs to learn to stand up for himself, like his younger sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) who also is having dreams about the missing kids. The film is based off of a short story by Joe Hill and it has similarities to his even more famous father's work, "Carrie." Ethan Hawke plays the mask wearing, child abducting, creep-o (I think he will get a best supporting Oscar nod for this one) and he is terrifying. Oh and if you didn't guess already, Finney gets taken by old creep-o and some ghosts, by the way of a broken phone, help Finney out. Sounds ridiculous, however it's extremely well done - that's how it got on the blog! Only good stuff here people. I don't scare easily but there were a couple of jump scares that got me good. Well done. Answer the call and see this one in the theatres while you can.