MOVIE NEWS – Nerd of Color Critic Mike Manola, who can be called a true fantasy, superhero and thriller fan, calls The Black Phone the best movie of the year. He says this: “He was born in Slytherin / one of the wizarding schools in the Harry Potter universe – ed. /, was baptized Marvel but was bitten by a radioactive DC fan. Mike Manola grew up as a Jedi, a secret guard today – the Dark Nerd!”

Mike believes The Black Phone is a relative of the famous IT  and is also doomed to be a big blockbuster. According to the author, there are four essential parallels. The terrible clown in IT  is a serial killer who kills children, and the warped mask of The Black Phone ( Ethan Hawke ) also kills children. Both films are horror stories and educational dramas, and while one of the productions is from a novel by Stephen King, the Black Phone is a short story by the writer’s son Joe Hill.

The fourth parallel is the strong presence of the supernatural element. The clown is not a worldly horror, and the Black Phone adolescent hero ( Mason Thames ) connects with the ghost of those kids through the mysterious black phone who were the killer’s victims. In this regard, Manola states that the new piece is the best ghost story since The Sixth Sense (1999). This is the film with which M. Night Shyamalan burst into Hollywood, and Bruce Willis portrayed the most painful face in cinema history. Still, his metaphysical nature only came to light at the very end of the story in the form of a huge twist.

Manola points out that the creators of The Black Phone (directed by Scott Derrickson and screenwriter C. Robert Cargill) don’t focus on scare, though they would give in, but unfold how we can find the strength and power within ourselves. The critic says Derrickson has matured into a true authorial filmmaker who obviously can’t make a mistake. You can only hope to persevere in the cruellest situations.

You can read our review of the film here.

( The Black Phone – domestic premiere: June 23, 2022 .)

Source: UIP DunaFilm