Ethan Hawke’s The Black Phone Receives Impressive 86% Rating on Rotten Tomatoes

If you’re a fan of horror movies, Ethan Hawke’s The Black Phone is one that you won’t want to miss. The film, which premiered at Fantastic Fest in September 2021, has now landed a score of 86% on the black phone rotten tomatoes after 71 reviews.

The film, directed by Doctor Strange’s Scott Derrickson, is based on the 2004 short story of the same name by Joe Hill. It follows an abducted child named Finney Shaw (Mason Thames), who is able to communicate with the past victims of his kidnapper (played by Moon Knight’s Hawke) through a disconnected phone.

The movie received high praise following the world premiere at Fantastic Fest in September 2021, and on Tuesday (June 21), it had a perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating after 28 reviews.

Now with 71 reviews, that score has dropped slightly – but ending up in the mid-80s is very solid, especially considering the movie’s genre.

Among the reviews, IndieWire’s Marisa Mirabal described The Black Phone as a “sleek, stressful, and violent slice of horror that captures the audience’s emotions as quickly as the film’s antagonist kidnaps children in broad daylight”.

“Every aspect of the film is emotionally arresting and tackles timeless fears with razor-sharp precision,” she added.

Meanwhile, IGN’s Amelia Emberwing wrote that the film “managed to exceed extremely high expectations in nearly every aspect”.

She added: “The writing/directing team puts personal traumas on full display while expertly showcasing the complications of childhood in the ’70s and the very real monsters of our world, while the performances of the child actors Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw take the already tight story to new heights.”

Critics also praised Derrickson’s direction, who left Marvel’s Doctor Strange 2 due to creative differences before making this film.

“Derrickson and his crew took a neat little horror concept from an actually short short story and were able to expand upon it in ways that both make sense and don’t feel like filler,” said Eric Vespe of Slash Film.

Source:  https://dailyhighlight.com/the-black-phone-reached-100-rating-on-rotten-tomatoes-4894