Speaker 1: Hell, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome back to Keeper's podcast.
Welcome to a key first review. Welcome. Technically, i'd say
this is a big review the week, So welcome to
geek Verse four ninety three. I am the mint armed Tress.
Speaker 2: Now I'm the paperboy Taylor Field.
Speaker 1: Yes, we are here to review The Black Phone on
a film that we've been talking about for quite a bit.
I think probably also we got the first trailer. I
think the very first time we talked about two is
maybe on the you know, twenty twenty two preview of
just like, Okay, Scott Derekson's doing this movie, scary movie.
There's the plot, there's a cast and career thing. So
we've been talking about for a while. So it's not
your big Marvel Star Wars DC, but it's been on
our radar for a bit, so we're excited. As usual.
We'll give our non swar slot. So if you're wondering
should you see this movie? Should you not? You know,
maybe you're not a horror fan. Maybe you're a fan
of Scott Derekson's work, maybe you're not. I don't know,
whatever reason you have under the sun to be like,
should I go see this, you'll get a portion of
this as usual to fresh to convince you or let
you know if this is worth your time or money.
And then we'll get in just Boys after a break
tar Field. Where can they find everything we do? Because
we got the Boys tomorrow, but we got well even then,
we got After nine coming up this weekend. Nice ten
am slot, that's our call in show. We got miss Oh,
we had the originals that just drawn Patreon the exclusive
ten dollars tire. So what's going on? Where is it
where we're gonna find us?
Speaker 3: Yes, ladies, something can find us with your interconnection in
the search bar. Geek vers not our own base, keik
first cast our Twitter and geek first on our Facebook.
Speaker 1: Yeah, lots of stuff we have cast daily. We got
I think there's been two times this week where there
there's been multiple casts like during the day. So just
tons of stuff. A big thank you to everyone that's
been supports. A big thank you to the patrons. You
guys keep us going. You guys really support this and
we really appreciate you.
Speaker 3: Guys.
Speaker 1: I want to shout out two people that have joined recently,
Martin Schanchez and then another one who I have to
I haven't had a chance to do this yet, Joshua,
so I apologize. But on the Patreon producers tier, very
top tier Ambrier and Aaron Braden, sorry, April of Darkness,
Carl Richie and smally bigs and now add Joshua right
to that tier of the Patrioton producers. And uh yeah, Joshua,
if you listening to this, I've already messaged, We've talked
to you, sent a very nice message and we appreciate,
uh lejimle. I've said the STiMi that it's nice that
you know. It's we talk to our patrons and you know,
some we talk more than others. But everyone that's joined
when we asked them why they joined, they have just
very nice things to say, and it's very humbling and
it's a nice it's just a nice reality check of man.
It's you know, we have the nicest little sliver, small
sliver of the internet that's following us. But it's you
guys all we have kind people. And that's what I
care more about, is that we have like good people,
kind hard people, very nice, overly nice people. Sometimes two
nice people, except for Carl Richie, who's on this little
terrible person but uh no, so add that there and
then yeah, if you listen to this, and I'm gonna
shout out on the newscast. As I've said before, the
very top tier, the phase four tier, you get to
pick a movie. So I said to him, I said,
you know, you can either pick a movie that you
love and wants to talk about, or you can make
a movie that you're gonna subject us to want to
hear our pain, because we've had patrons do both things,
pick great movies and pick bad movies just to hear
our response. So Tayfield, I don't know, is this a
great movie or a bad movie the black phone dripped
by Scott Dereckson or is it somewhere in the middle.
Speaker 3: I would say, I say it's a pretty good movie
to be honest, good movie, bad experience.
Speaker 2: But it's I.
Speaker 1: Think we'll we'll because layer view. I think we'll save
both our experiences. We should talk about after night, so
we should talk about what happened in the theater, and
we'll also talk about our seating debacle because I was
convinced something was happening. It was not so TWNE and
after nine this week, and we'll talk about we had
a few experiences around the Black Phone. But the film
pretty good film.
Speaker 3: You're saying, Yeah, it was a good film, and it
just it had a again not spoilers. The start was
really just a great build up to just kind of
like cement the idea of of what's what's coming up,
Like it was just kind of like getting us into
some routines and just kind of like teaching us as
viewer what to probably expect and what's going to happen here.
And then sure enough, when we get into this film,
it leads us on this story that you feel like
emotional and you are like freaked out at like you're
really hoping like things can kind of get unraveled, and
you want to see the characters kind of how they're
going to develop, and it doesn't disappoint on the trajectory
that they take you on. And even Hawk is absolutely
just fantastic in this movie, like really really fantastic. And yeah,
it's just it it ended in a way that like
I'm glad that I could leave the theater and not
feel like extremely just down and like shit on myself.
Like I left the theater and felt like, Okay, you
know what, this is a good watch it was a
good movie again. I had my wife with me, Madison,
and she didn't know what she was in for because
she didn't see any trailers.
Speaker 2: So when she watched it again, she felt good about it.
Speaker 3: So I know she feels good. I know, okay, this
is it's not like a feel good movie, but.
Speaker 2: It's it's relatively okay.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say bring the kids too, it's relatively okay.
I like that whatever review you'd get in a poster,
relatively okay. Would you recommend this for people.
Speaker 3: If you're if you want to like, yeah, if you
want to go out pick a movie, like if I
had to choose between this and Elvis, and I haven't
seen Elvis yet, but like I would naturally I'm naturally
more inclined to go towards this as like, not just
for podcast reasons, but if I didn't have a geek verse,
I would naturally go to see this in the theater,
and I would suggest to other people like, hey, it's
pretty damn good.
Speaker 2: In the movie theater, so indulge.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So for myself, like I said, I was interested
in this one, I can think I'm the same in
Taylor that I will see Elvis here. I'm a big
boss Lerman fan. I don't think there'll be a geek
Verse review. You might hear someone mention it, but I
don't think you gotta. I don't think that's coming up.
But my Auntie was like, don't you guys review like
just every movie that comes out. I'm like, no, you
like we have a specific audience. Yeah, I've like, no,
we don't see everything. But so I saw this. I
was looking very forward to this, and as I've said
many times, where what interested me was, Okay, Scott Derickson's
getting back to horror. He's routine with Ethan Hawk. Ethan
Hawk looked great in here, and it was Scott Derrickson's
first movie after The Doctor's Strange Debacle, right, and I
always like to see a movie when that happens. It's
very similar to Army the Dead was ax snyrs like, oh,
I can't wait to see what he does here, and
much like that movie. I like this movie, but I
feel a little underwhelmed. I think it's a solid movie.
I think it's a it's a good movie. There's nothing
actually super wrong with I think it just never gets
into that fifth gear, you know. I was kind of
waiting for it to happen. And I will say not
even just because the trailers, I feel the story is
kind of it's a little predictable, and then the stuff
that's not predictable, I feel like they don't jump in
quite a bit enough. And I think there's two routes.
You look at this right, they'll leave a lot of
things ambiguous, which that could be the route they go,
but then there's stuff that's maybe just not explain He
can't explain everything, but these characters say a lot of things,
are like, oh, I'm really interested in that, and there's
a lot of ideas here that I like the concept of.
But they said it just never gotten to that point
where oh I was really really enjoying. I think I
agree with you that, at least for me, the opening,
I'd say the first act was probably the strongest because
there's build up, lots of attention, lots of creepy stuff
going on. Ethan Hawk is just like certain things he's
saying dialogue wise, you're like, what's gonna happen now? You know?
But once and people have seen the trail, once the
black Phone gets introduced, it it feels like what the
trailer said you out for and then nothing. There's nothing
to me really surprising. I feel like the supernatural stuff,
if you take that out, it'd be even less surprising.
But you add that in and it's like, Okay, this
is kind of cool, this is fun, But it never
really I just felt like we kind of knew every
turn of what was gonna happen. And that's not necessarily
a bad thing, but just not anything I was expecting
a little bit more, especially because I feel like Sinister
is so strong and it has that capability of right
when you think you kind of know what's going on,
it changes on hit. And I'm not saying every feeling
has to be like Sinister and you know, you know,
big twists or stuff like that and everything. But yeah,
I think it was good. And even then, I might
watch this again one day. I'm not saying I'm never
gonna watch itin I might watch again with em money,
but I'm not in any rush to see it again.
And I would in this way a peep if they
asked her if I recommend it. It's tough. If this
was in a season where we'd have less movies, i'd
say yes. But right now you have top Gun you
got Drastic World, you got what do we talk about?
Speaker 2: Last Year?
Speaker 1: Light Year? You have what the fuck is the thor
coming up right now? You got Elvis, which I imagine I'm
probably gonna like more than this now that I've seen it.
So it's tough when there's so many movies that when
people asked me should I go see this, I'm not
gonna tell them to run up the theater. This feels
kind of like a perfect at home type of watch.
I don't think there's anything you have to and even
Nathan Hawk, I love them in this, but I still
want like a little bit more, and that's maybe this
whole movie. I just want a little bit more. And
what this episode would have felt like maybe being a
bit better, is almost like Black Merr or Goosebumps, a
part of some show where even an hour forty two
feels like it was maybe a bit too long for me.
I feel like there's some stuff you could cut down
a little, and it feels like it'd be a great
anthology episode. But as a movie, I thought it was
just it was just good. It was solid. Yeah, No,
I don't have much to say. I guess, like I said,
I'm underwhelmed. I probably sound more negative than I am.
I enjoyed my time with it, but I just went, Okay,
that was a well made movie. I don't know if
I'm going to see it again anytime soon. You know,
m hm. And you know Ethan hawks the Graber and
that's a good thing. And you know, the thing is
like speaking of the grabber, you know, he's very scary
villain and whatnot. You know what's gonna be really scary
is if you're not shaving your balls come this summer,
because the other thing is like speaking of the grabber.
I want to be grabbing my manscape. So when I
go to grab my junk, it's filing smooth. You know,
you or the other people. You got a man, a woman,
you know, a day whoever, they may be grabbing your junk,
grabbing your man parts, your lady parts. You do. You
don't want to be scary. You want to be a
good grab And that's why I want to go to
manscape dot com and use the gv pod code or
just gv pod that is the code to get twenty
percent off and free worldwide shipping. They have a slew
a plethora of different contents. You can get. You know,
this guy in the basement, he had a lot going on. Uh,
you don't want a lot going on in your basement,
but he also had a lot of tools happening down there.
And that's a manscape literally is just creating great products
for different things. At first, they were just the you know,
trimmer fear of balls in the area. I got the
shirt right now, that's anything soft shirt. They got the boxers,
they got the lip bomb, they got the weed Whack
or they got the four point zero And that's why
you should definitely be checking out their new thing at
just debuted Jane June first, is the premium package that
has pretty much everything we've well, it has everything we
have promoted, so you know it's good stuff because we've
all swore by it myself, Taylor and Kirkland. That's all
good things. So yeah, Taylor, what's good? You want to
be trimmed out when someone's grabbing you, you know.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I mean you know, you're all smooth and
everything like that makes it harder for someone to like,
you know.
Speaker 2: To grab true you.
Speaker 1: Just that's the man Scape definitely used as a preview
get conducted Less.
Speaker 3: They got all those like ointments and everything, like I like, oh,
the crop reviver everything, like you just you lube yourself
up in that body low shit, and yeah, no one's
grabbing y so but when they do grab it, you
want to make sure you're trimmed and you're all just
completely clean shaved in. Medison's giving me the look right
now as I talk about this, you know.
Speaker 2: Clean them and clean them.
Speaker 1: My she knows, she knows she's the grabber. And Taylor's like,
there's no man scary, would be no grab right, you know.
So there you go, a wife approved, lady approved, and
uh yeah, go do that. Like we said right now,
it's getting on summer. Whether you're rocking you know the speed,
oh James Bond style, whether you're outside, you want to
be trimmed out. You don't want swamp at. It's gonna
start getting warm people, especially some people around here in Canada.
It's gonna start gettingarm it's gonna start getting hot. You
wanna do that a little bit, like you know, relieve
that a little bit, but also look good while doing it.
You got multiple guards. So if your style is not
being right down to the skin, you got multiple different options.
Speaker 2: There.
Speaker 1: The weed whackers great for pesky your hairs and neck
hairs and all that sort of things. So there's just
a great amount of things you can do. So go
check it out. Man, skip right now dot com twenty
percent off free shipping. All right, we're gonna do our
next outbreak and then we're gonna get in the spoilers.
So we'll be right back and we're back. So you
know what I want to mention because I was gonna
mention this in non spoilers and I didn't, and I
should have because like I could have phrased it in
a non spoil way. But I think one thing that
I kind of really bug me. I'm I saying to
get your opinion on it. So this kid we'll get
into probably more of the order after. But anyways, he
gets kidnapped Finny and I damn same thing. Non spoils.
I'm off my game, ight, I should have said, Ethan Hawk.
It was great. The two kid actresses were phenomenal, both
of them, Like they're really good. I hadn't seen them.
I don't think in anything else. He's good as the victim.
There's one scene which we'll get into with the daughter
where they set up the storyline with the father and
he's an abusive father, and man, what heart brings me.
It's one of these things like this movie. Definitely as
a parent, it's like, man, one thing, kids getting abductive
movies are harder to watch nowadays having three kids then too,
it's just like I still never can believe we lived
in a world at one point where parents like thought
it was right to beat their kids, Like I never
understood like how this happened for so long. But there's
a scene where she, you know, the setup is we'll
talk more about it, is that she's having dreams. She's
pretty much having visions that's more supernatural side, and he
doesn't want her to speak out because you know it's
gonna get the family into trouble. Cops around, and there's
a belt scene and man, it's brutal to watch. And
Jeremy Davies, I don't think you've seen anything that plays
a dad. He's a great actor. I first saw him
in uh oh, Justified, and ever since then I've been
a big fan of him. So he's bringing it. But
then the daughter when she has to like scream back
and say, my dreams are just dreams, Like it's all
that stuff, but like she was so good in that scene.
It was felt like you were watching something that was
actually happening, like a documentary, so like it was just
it was so grip. And that's where again the first
act for me, like it was really heavy and all
the stuff was going on. But anyway, so we'll return
to that. He gets kidnapped and he's put down in
the you know, the great basement, the cement prison, whatever
it may be. I think. So I love the idea
we got that in the Choose, the idea of okay,
this phone for whatever reason. That's maybe part of my
cons too, that Ethan Hawk's like, oh used to ring
for me? So like Ethan Hawk, like, I guess am
I rown? But to me was he hinting at like
he had experienced the supernatural stuff before as well? Had
you thought about that or how did you take it?
Because he talks about like, oh, I used to hear
that phone ring, but I don't anymore. And then and
he's like I used to be down here and I
as a kid, So is this something maybe his dad
just did tomb or something like I was wondering what
you took from some of those lines he was dropping
but almost having a previous experience or was it just
fucking nuts?
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's I mean, he's definitely fucking nuts.
Speaker 3: There's an interesting backstory here that I'd love to learn
about with this character because I was he I would
love to learn about it, or like, did he just
choose to spend time down there because his brother, I
mean his brother Max was like seriously fucked up too,
but like his better Max was more so and like
the opposite end of that spectrum, Like and that was
a dynamic that we'll talk about too, which is good.
But the context of him being down there, I think
is just he's used to him killing these kids. I
think he's just created literally a haunted setting where these
kids are tied to this location, and I think it's
just paranormal occurrences that are happening. I didn't really suspect
that the boy was gifted like his sister was. I
took it as sister was the one experiencing this and
this is just like this contained element. And maybe I'm
just biased because of how I kind of like a
tie in with like paranormal and things things.
Speaker 2: Like that, But I just saw it as this basement was.
Speaker 3: A contained paranormal hotspot, yet that's what was going on.
Speaker 1: I kind of agree. It feels very similar to The
Shining in a sense where the hotel in itself is
haunted and like Danny's mom doesn't have the shining, but
then Danny, you introduce Danny and the Shining because he
like has that ability, like makes it like bigger and whatnot. Oh,
obviously she never goes into that basement, but I agree
that I kind of take it that way, where the
ghosts are speaking to him at their ghosts. I'm just
calling that to be easy, and she has her own mindset.
But and that's where I'm That's when you said, like
you would love to know that backstory. I don't need
this phone was a part of some voodoo called them
like I don't need that. But I guess I just
wanted I felt I felt with Ethan Hawk's character, I
was wanting a little bit more, just a few little
more backstory notes things like that, and I feel like
we never got there. I think he's very creepy and
just stuff like, oh, like I don't need to give
you anything, You're already down here if I want, and
then he just would in it. I don't know what
he was saying, but like that's the only thing or
the great thing about it, which sounds bad, But when
you're watching it and he's just like, oh, you know,
get ready for the next step, and he closed the door,
you don't know what this fucking guy's talking about. You
don't know if he's gonna kill him, you don't know
if he's like a pedophile. You really don't know. And
they don't reveal that. They don't play any up and
I like that stuff, but when you said, like, oh,
there's a backstory, I would like to know. That for
me kind of took the movie down a few notches
that I feel like I don't need it fully explained,
but I would like a little bit more. The fact
that we didn't Is that something that takes away from
your final score? Or were you fine with you know,
this element of you got the Grabber and you learn
just a few things about buddymore just a creepy dude.
Speaker 3: I think I wouldn't say it's like playing it safe,
but I think it benefits by keeping us on edge,
by not knowing all these things about about this character,
like just the Grabber, that's all we need to know.
And we just like, why everything that I've I've learned
now watching horror and serial killers everything like that, where
I'm at now in my life, I realize, Okay, rituals
are very important to these characters.
Speaker 2: And He's like, oh yeah, and I think that.
Speaker 1: Was the way exactly.
Speaker 3: This is one of the biggest things that I think
I really enjoyed this movie was learning the ritual that
Ethan Hawk is trying is creating here for us to understand.
And yeah, so having to just clicking with all the
backstory and stuff, like we didn't need all and depth,
but like we see, okay, the balloons, he leaves these
balloons bough behind where he takes a victim and all
this different stuff and like the mask and just hiding
and everything like that. It's just the mask thing was
interesting because I almost felt like it was like a
Michael Myers kind of vibe, not too like extreame, but
a different parallel to it, like he just like got
to keep the mask on sort of thing. He just
seemed like he was completely weakened or emotional when that
mask was taken off of him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it was interesting. That's where again I'd like
a little bit more of like if it in his mind,
if it's some sort of culty thing or in his
mind some sort of power thing. I don't know, because
you had multiple masks, and I feel like they would
almost maybe represent different things because you had you had
the very first when you saw him, Wills.
Speaker 3: A two piece one, right he kept he could change
the mouth out and then the face out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess it was the same mask now thinking
of it, Yeah, because I thought they were like four
certent masks. But then so you can do that one
exchange them. But at the very beginning of the movie,
he had that one where it was just his eyes
and not his mouth and everything. So it's like, what
are these masks mean? And stuff like that. Now, So
and I do like the scene where the mask gets
ripped off and he's freaking out. It's kind of weakness.
I think for me that the death of the Grabber
I was not a fan of kind of overall, for
how we got there and then the actual result. I
just didn't buy. Now, of course he's a creepy guy,
his stuff going on. I just really did not buy that.
So there's a door, right, and he opens up the
door and there's the bed, and then there's the rest
of the thing. To his left, there's like this little
hall and one of the kids was just the very
first things. Oh, there's these tiles. You move them apart
and you can dig. And he says like, I didn't
have enough time to get further. Now, the kids saying
I did not have enough time, I think would imply
that he tried to dig there. Would you agree with that?
So he tried to dig there, and maybe ethan Hawk
caught him. So we have this setup of ethan Hawk
is probably dealt with a kid that tried this already.
So that's one and two. I just could not buy
that this kid bought like digs was huge hole and
all he does is just put a carpet over it,
and ethan Hawk does not notice at all. And it's
right by the door, Like when you walk in, you
look to the left, it's right there. Are you saying,
as I agreed.
Speaker 3: I'm saying like there's a few things that ethan Hawk
didn't notice. Like additionally, the grate that was over the window.
I think that's a huge thing to just not notice
that it was pulled out.
Speaker 1: And that's to me where I don't my problem was.
I don't think they made it enough like he was
a simpleton and didn't get it. I just felt like
those were just kind of necessities in the movie that
they're just like, oh, well, just like let this this
is gonna happen, and we're not going to really talk
about because I just as far as I know, again,
I'm not saying the grabber seemed to be like some scientist,
smartest guy in the room, but as far as what
we'd see him before, he has this routine and everything
like that, I just did not buy that he would not,
especially because why would he not just be like, why
this kid put a fucking carpet down and it's not
like a little carpet. It's a massive, long, like seven
foot like eight foot seven foot car but wrapped around,
but like it's this big carpet. I agreed with the Great.
It just felt like that didn't actually happen in the movie,
and we just forgot about it, like they edited out
something that would come later. So there's a few things
like that. And again I guess I don't necessarily mind
his death, but I did not like that. Okay, he
did not know the Great was there or the hole
was there, and then when he falls in he like
breaks his leg and I liked the mask, but probably
thought everything was like there was just like thirty seconds
of the kid to punch him, and Hawk would try
to grab him, the kid to punch him, and he tried.
It was just like the same scene like over and
over and there just there wasn't much too it and
the dog didn't really feel like it was much of
a purple like in the theaters. It was an oh
shit moment when he brought down the dogs, like, oh fuck,
what's gonna happen? But the dog was pretty like it's
just there, easily dispatched with his steak and stuff, and
then he chokes. He kills him, I'll presume with the phone.
So I think for me that's where it kind of hurts,
where the ending was a little anti climactic, and there
was stuff that I thought was gonna pay off. I
thought he was going to kind of say like, no,
I know you've been able to doing over there, because
there's a few times in the movies where it felt like,
you know, Finn was trying. It was Finn, Yeah, Finn,
he was his name, but that he said go by Finn.
He was trying to do something, but then ethan Hawk
would catch it. But then these super really obvious things
that Finn was doing, ethan Hawk would not catch, and
he just I don't know, I feel very mixed about that.
Maybe i'd feel different on a rewatch, but I really
don't think, like you mentioned the great and the Hole,
I would feel much different because it was those were
glaring omissions to me.
Speaker 3: I would attribute it to again, the ritual. Things are
not going how he was hoping. He's distracted his brother's upstairs.
Things are just really not working out well. And so
every minute that he gets when he can kind of
like just focus, he's got tunnel vision, and that tunnel
vision is spent by him just observing the boy, and
then he's busy dealing with shit. So I think that
that is kind of compromising it. And it's a very
loose argument at the end of the.
Speaker 1: Day, because he's been doing that whole for days. It's
not like, hey, I got one day I'm gonna dig
this hole into the cart. But there's been at least
a couple of nights where he's been digging this hole,
so ethan Hawk has had time to.
Speaker 3: Like even that play get like a day. I thought
it was like pretty quick.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's at least too because that kid
sleeps a couple of times. That's why I I guess
that's all you would do there is sleep. But I
feel like at least a couple of times. And I
wonder what to me, the phone felt like every day
he got like a new phone call. And he got
like three or four phone calls. So I'm saying at
least two to three days, that's what I think it.
Even when they throw that plate of food, like it
goes in the direction of that rug, and I just
I saw it was gonna come up, but no, he
just like he home aloned him. You know, if I
got flashbacks to Cano where it was just like, Okay,
this is like Villain's gotta home. The loan is a
big thing recently. And I remember the other trailer we
got to we talk about in the vehicle Don't worry Darling.
That's the other one we got. Yes, yes, you can't
wait for September in that movie. But yeah, it's I
liked everything there, and I think the you kind of
got the idea of Okay, these people are gonna phone
teach him something and that that was kind of the plot,
you know, like he just keeps getting taught stuff. He
escapes once Ethan Hawk. I love he just pulls then
kill you say anything like that was great, like he
almost got out. But again I felt like by the
middle of the film, I had a firm grass of
where we were gonna go, you know, the brother thing,
which it was strange that they introduced his brother who
he plays. I'm not sure if you remember. He's the
deputy and Sinister, so he's using the heat teams with
Ethan Hawk, so it's kind of fun their brothers. The
next time you watch Sinister, look out for that. So
I like that Scott Derek Son and him are back together.
They did this shot where the brother's like doing the
cops coming there, he's doing cocaine, and then they do
this like pan down through the basement and at first
I was like, are they trying to just do a
cool shot and it seems like they're insinuating that he's
in the actual house, but it's like, no, he's in
the actual house. He's in, which was kind of strange.
And again that was as bike. I liked the idea enough,
but it was just strange to throw in this. His
brother is doing coke, he's not working, he's trying to
figure out this mystery. He figures it out, he gets
killed right away. I really it was I don't know,
I don't know how to feel. Oh, the whole thing,
it wasn't bad, but it's just I wish even the
amount of time we got with the Max character was fine,
But I wish it was just another way, whether it's
more with Ethan Hawk or more than the other stuff.
But I've been rambling for a bit, So what do
you think about some of the stuff you got? The location,
you got, the brother, you got, some of the reveals
of the two houses and stuff like that.
Speaker 3: Like it's a classic cliche to'd be like have two scenes,
one where there's an escalated conflict and then the rescuers
coming in, and you think the rescuers are in the
house and they're not, And I thought, well, they're alluding
to that. But at the same time, the whole thing
with the brother made me kind of disregard that cliche
because when he was looking at the map and seeing
the houses, I thought, oh, like, holy shit, okay, this
is actually it. Like the cops are actually really really
here it up so so well. But no, it was
in the larger scale of things, it makes sense. The
bodies here, the ghosts, they appeared for the sister, and
this was their part of their resolution, like abdication, Like
you're just their their peace.
Speaker 2: I guess.
Speaker 3: So I like that it made sense. And yeah, the
brother whole dynamic. At first, like I didn't. I didn't
understand it when they were knocking on the door and
they were just setting that up, and I thought it
was odd how they introduced it. But I thought, Okay, no,
he's like super fixated on the case, and like, I know,
I know people that. I mean, they're not doing coke
off the table, but you know, between jobs. I know,
you're in between jobs and you get fixated on something,
and this is just that it's a good representation of him.
I like seeing him just like deep diving into this case.
And then it kind of I liked that it wasn't
just blatantly on your face.
Speaker 2: It was just these subtleties like clean.
Speaker 1: The dog gave it away from something.
Speaker 3: The dog was definitely like the confirmation. I thought, like, oh,
this is interesting. Yeah, you retrospect, like, yeah, there's an
unexpected guess you're like, I like that. I thought, oh
this is really cool because yeah, you're staying at your
brothers trying to crack this case, and like, holy shit,
the brother is the killer.
Speaker 2: Like it's absolutely bonkers.
Speaker 3: And uh him just doing a line of coke and
then going downstairs the worst fucking time. This guy is
fucking high off of his Oh man, he's like not
even wore.
Speaker 1: He's not home, he's at work.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like the first thought is not even to like
save this kid. You want to know how I figured
it out. This kid's like no, for fox sakes, he has.
Speaker 1: The phone, he is all ready to go and stuff
like that. So yeah, I liked it enough. It was
fun to get there. But again, I don't know it
worked it out for me. But I wonder if there's
either I would be I wouldn't be missing it if
most of it was cut or was time spent somewhere else.
But it was a fun little okay like kind of
mini mystery. But again because the dog, the dog doesn't
use it as a reveal. It's just at one point
you see him with the dog, and later on when
Nathan hawks down the basement, you just hear a dog
in the background, so that for me was like, Okay,
clearly they're around. And then they save to be the
big twist later on in a sense, and uh, yeah,
his brother I just love, like you look what you
made me do. And then he killed his brother. He's
like he's a dummy, but he's my dummy. And again, yeah,
I said this when we got the trains that I
like the masks, but in the even little scene that
he got of him like abducting the kid, I many
times actually just wish the mask was off because I
just want to see his face acting because he was
just killing an Ethan hawk. But yeah, where do you
want to go next year?
Speaker 3: When we talk about uh, I guess this can kind
of segue to it, but I guess the phone calls
like primarily I'll hone in on when you can tell
the door wasn't locked, and then Finn is thinking of
going up and then the phone rings like don't go
up there, like and I thought, like it just freaked
me out. And then seeing this seeing again because even
does this multiple times and he's just sitting up there
and he's just like he's got the belt, and like, fuck,
that's just terrifying, really terrifying.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, no, he's just waiting for excuse too, because
he said, if you behave I'm not gonna do anything.
And that's what the kids say, like, hey, don't do
this or he's gonna hurt you. And that's the thing
where Okay, they're giving advice for how to like maybe
get at it, but also just things not to do
and stuff like that. And I actually loved everything about
those phone calls of they were like forgetting their names,
they didn't really understand it. It felt like when people, if
you believe in the stuff, talk about spirits when they're
kind of caught in between, you know, the life and
afterlife and there don't really know why they're here or
where they are and stuff like that. That's where it
felt like they had flashes of who they were before,
but not the whole story. And I really liked that. Man,
I didn't jump it in by the theater completely jumped in.
There's that one phone call. It's a great camera trick
where he's on the phone, he's talking and this point
you think Ethan Hawk is gonna come back because they
keep just they get they had the room cut off
and it's Finny with the phone and you just know
something's behind him. But then they pan around him and
you're expecting ethan hawk, but it's like one of the
kid's dead. And what I appreciate it wasn't even like
a big like sound there's some scared meters, but it
was like a Barty jump scared. It was just scary
because this fucking dead looking kid came out of nowhere.
It worked for me, but I saw so many people
actually jump in my theater. It was quite good. So
I love that where there's like really good camera work.
Trick I loved, Like I said, I like the shot
enough of him doing coked. But one shot I really
liked was they had this moment where there's a bunch
of bullies after in the first act. They're after our
main character here, but Robin, who's like the kick ass
guy who beats up the bigger bull and he just knows,
he knows everything. He's a badass. He tells these three
kids like, hey, you ever messed within, you know you're
gonna have a problem, and they don't want you because
this kid around school's fear right. He goes missing, he
gets killed unfortunately, And I love this shot where I
cause I sing in my mind and it'd been about
five or ten minutes. I'm like, man, if they don't
touch back to this bully thing, it's kind of misopportunity
because like they set this up and that's kind of
you know, they do that Tiens this movie and say, oh,
I set this up and they're not really gonna pay
it off. And I love the shot. It's just like
a shot of the missing poster of Robin and then
it pans over to like the alleyway and in that
same ayeway, the kids are chasing him down starting to
beat on him. So I feel like Scott Derekson. He
also brings up a lot of the like sinister filter
of like the when they are chowed. And this is
what I liked about this is where it was as
a parent when they talk about a kid missing, they
would they shot all this stuff with like a kid
maybe being like a Todther and then growing up a
little and you're and I think that helps because not
only are seeing these kids missing, you're seeing like them
grow up and now they're dead, and it's like it
makes it that much more sadder and depressing. But he
used that same filter of like the home videos for
a sinister. He did that again with that, so him
and the crew of the team. I love a lot
of the shots and the film camera working here for
what they did with multiple stories. But yeah, all this
stuff with the kids on the phone. Really really enjoyed it.
Speaker 3: You mentioned that fight. Seeing the alleyway, I just wanted
to like shout out to the sister. She's a fucking powerhouse.
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 2: God Damn rock to.
Speaker 3: The Head got a gushat Yeah, oh there.
Speaker 1: Was something, And I like that she seemed to just
be a nice little girl and then she slowly is
just like potty mouth and just like she says fucking Jesus,
fuck you, you ugly cocksucker, fartface or whatever. She's like all
of these like swears. She's sounds like deb from Dexter.
But yeah, man, when she got in there, she was
kicking ass and everything. And I really liked the dynamic
between the brothers and sister that not at any point
there was like some minor like hey, don't say that stuffing.
But I like that he gets kidnapped after the first act.
There's not much time, but I like that they just
had a loving relationship there was no tension. It wasn't
like they got in a fight in the last thing
they said to each other was bad obviously too, Like
I like that after, you know, I don't like the
scene in the sense of what's happening, but how it's
form and acted. When the dad abuses the girl that
he's comforting her. So I really like that they their
mom has passed away and they insinuated I can't remember.
They insinuay her flyouts say that she took her own life.
They said that she took her own life. She yeah,
So they've lost her mother, their dad, who they kind
of redeem at the end a little bit or just
trying to say, like he apologized, realized all he's he's
an alcoholic, he's abusive. So I really liked that they
were just every day leaning on one another because that's
all they had. Even though they had some father figure
to pay their bills stuff, they didn't really have him.
So I really liked the dynamic between the brother and
sisters thout the whole movie.
Speaker 2: M H, yeah, I did too.
Speaker 3: I liked uh again, they touched upon it too when
his his love interests, I guess is like, oh, I
wish I had that kind of like relationship with my
brother and stuff like that. But no, it was it
was awesome, and I liked that she was this this
psychic and she had this ability, and I like that
it was kind of playing off of what the mother
could do too, and just it it again added more
dynamic to the dad and why the dad was just
super unstable, and just the whole scene again him beating.
Speaker 2: Her, which just so rough. Oh my god.
Speaker 3: Yeah, my dreams are just dreams like christ Yeah, her
her coming around with the dad and having that moment
they were starting to drive around together like to look
like I really like that.
Speaker 2: It was just there was a.
Speaker 3: Lot of good development in these characters, and the child
actors and actresses just really sold it. A thing with
the phone stuff, I'll say this. I'll say this quick
little part. I won't say it after nine because not
everyone will have seen it, but people in front of
us when the phone kept ringing the one kid, it
was like, oh this phone, shit's getting old real fast.
Speaker 1: For the point in the movie, oh black phone. Yeah,
these kids are stating his phone because apparently without this phone,
I don't think you would have made it.
Speaker 2: You know, they came exactly.
Speaker 3: So the one thing that really got me with the
kids coming up back as ghosts. I know they showed
the trailer, but I completely forgot it was and he
was just shining the flashlight and the fucking hanging upside
down backwards scene like it wasn't even a scare jump,
but just maybe just like like crunching my sea a
little bit, and it like lifted its hand up and
pointed like it's just it was.
Speaker 2: Very freakishly shot and terrifying.
Speaker 3: Yeah, these kids are dead and it's just seeing them
like this is really freaky.
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, some some stuff there. So let's take another
ad break and we'll keep breaking down those film so
we'll be right back and we're back. So where do
you want to go next day? What's something you haven't
touched upon on that you want to shout out?
Speaker 3: Uh, the escape, I'd say, yeah, when he manages to
get that combo from the boy on the phone, paper boy,
absolutely traumatizing because you know, well, I guess you can't say.
You know, I felt like something was going to happen here,
but I thought like, oh he is actually getting out,
this is crazy, and yeah, sure enough he sneaks out
when Ethan Hawk is napping and was baiting him.
Speaker 2: For like naughty play again or whatever.
Speaker 3: So he sneaks out and as he's running, I feel
like all the adrenalines running through his mind, so I
can understand why this would have backfired like it did.
Like watching it, I can formulate a play and I
was thinking, like, God, you should like go into her
car or something. I just get out of visual sight
from him and then he'll panic and he won't know
what to do and he probably won't find you.
Speaker 2: So uh he gets caught.
Speaker 3: The dog barks and so Ethan Hawk like wakes up
and like charges at him. And Vinny Phinny is running
down the street and Ethano gets in his van raises
off towards him. He's screaming and he gets caught and
Ethan Hok grabs him, pulls a knife up, and just
the things he says, like, man, this is Ethan Hawk
like terrifying, like I will got you like a fucking pig.
I will pull your intestines out and strangle you with them,
like holy shit. And the lights of the neighbors turn on,
not just one, but two neighbors. They heard screaming, they
heard grab it like they're obviously heard some commotion. Did
they fucking look out their windows? No, they turned the
fucking porch light on, and what they just stand in
their house like this, like, wit, here's something outside?
Speaker 2: What is that?
Speaker 1: They're like looking for a hole.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, apparently.
Speaker 1: Adults can't see shit in this movie.
Speaker 2: No, apparently not. They should have fucking opened you know,
I'd open my door.
Speaker 1: I'd poke my head and be like.
Speaker 3: Oh, there's a fucking black van right there. That's a
little suspicious, Like god, damn. Like even like they they
were useless, And even then I just felt like the
cops were useless for the most part. Like if this
is like a sing this this guy is a very
significant threat. These kids are being picked up. I feel
like you could easy, you could map this out better.
You could set up like police checkpoints around the school
that he's been targeting, like, for fox sakes, set up
a plan.
Speaker 1: Yes, but it was also like nineteen seventy eight in
the story right where you know, they were a little
less equipped back in the days, Like they weren't. They've
not been through this shit like some other people haven't.
They kind of Okay, this is what we should be doing.
But yeah, they were just kind of led by the
girl the whole time, you know, like they were just like,
without her, they would not have broken this case at all.
It's not anything like I guess, guess what you could
argue is Okay. So they go to the brother Max
and they talk to him, and because the sister has
a dream Gwen actually, by the way, Gwenny was her name.
But when they have a dream about the place, the
cops think okay again, they keep questioning her because she
talked to someone's some of the school and the words
spread that she had this dream about a balloon, black balloons,
and because one of the kids she had dream about
one of the missing kids in black balloons, and the cops
that are down and they're like, hey, we didn't release
any of that info to anybody, so how'd you get that?
And you know there's black balloons at two case or
two crime scenes so far, Like how did you get that?
I love that her little kind of angry ramp there
about like what do you think on the fucking grab her?
Look at me like, I'm twelve year old? You think
I'm grabbing people? Like it was just so good, but
so I guess I can kind of buy that, okay,
because the cops were at Maxim's place and then she
had a dream. That's why they would believe her because
she's mentioned this before. But again, it just felt like
at the end they're getting all this credit and everything.
They oh yeah, you know, they cracked the case, they
broke it, but it's like, no, they did nothing, Like
they really did nothing. She called the cops, said where
they were, and they didn't even take out ethan Hawk,
like they just found the aftermath of it all. Like
the sister and the brother maybe could have you know,
dealt with this before, like by themselves, like they would
have because uh, Finn got out of there like he
like they didn't even need the cost like he would
have Winn and just told like, oh so of course
the people from black Phone and stuff, I'm just saying
from the actual adults, but uh yeah, you know, it
is what it is. I did like that scene though,
again kind of trying to turn the father around when
they had that conversation about the mom and he just
didn't want to believe. He didn't want her to listen
to her dreams. But then she did drive her around
like look and you know, whether it was desperation from
his son or him trying to believe a little bit.
I did appreciate that of them trying to, like I said,
redeem him a little bit, him realizing he's been doing
some bad shit, you know. So definitely, yeah, anything else
in particular, there's no really big kills in here because
and the kids are killed off screen, so it's not
like Sinistory he had, like those tapes and stuff. I'm
trying to think. Yeah, like you said, yeah, your little
love interest there, which was I thought it was gonna
be over because he has that baseball game and she's interested.
But the second he lets that home run happen, she
turned and was out of there. You know, it looked
like she had no interest in It was a different girl, right,
or wasn't it was the same girl?
Speaker 2: It was it the same girl.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of girls that are white brunette and
have like the same like pushed back hair and like
fake tails and stuff like that, So maybe it was
a different girl. I thought it was the same, but
I can't recall.
Speaker 3: You see, the only other things I could think of
the touch upon are just him harnessing and acquiring all
these different tools to escape and such, and I like that,
like everything was a specific reason that getting into the
freezer wasn't necessarily to escape through the freezer was to
get the meat to give to.
Speaker 2: The dog to get out.
Speaker 3: It felt like a video game sort of just yea
a survivalist game, and I kind of liked that component
and him getting the Yeah, the cord wasn't to climb
out through the windows to pull the great down, so
we could use that in the hole to create that
like that ramp, and like everything about it was just great.
Speaker 2: Like I personally wouldn't have filled the phone with dirt use.
Speaker 3: I guess it makes a pretty good weapon, like a
one handed weapon, which is what you want. I think
the bathroom toilet seat like cover would have been better.
Speaker 2: Just like more obviously, plus like he high behind a
door and like just smack him over the head.
Speaker 1: I guess it would be too heavy for that kid though, right,
you got to think about No.
Speaker 3: He smashed through that cement well pretty good. He was
definitely like he was he was ready for it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe toilets it's a pretty heavy though, you know
they can't swing that right well, And I guess too,
like the phone. It's very small, so the good thing
it's not just heavy but like hard for maybe the
grab or to grab you know, that's his gimmick and stuff.
But I also thought like flushing that much dirt and
sand down the toilet was very risky, you know, because
I thought.
Speaker 2: That was the risk of a clog.
Speaker 1: For sure, a clog could happen, But again I would
like to I don't have to know and see it.
But when they kids that, I tried to like, what
happened to that dirt? Did it? Did it? Was it
a pile? But he also flushed it? Did the grabber
have to refill it? And the grabber knew that again,
why was he not watching? Like? That's why I wish
they didn't add that line because again, to me, they're
insinuating that a kid tried this. I feel like the
growdard would be watching out for this. So I really
don't know what happened with that kid last time with
the watching up.
Speaker 3: I probably didn't suspect it because like he would have
put new flooring in there, so he probably just thought like, yeah, again,
why would a kid try like the same thing?
Speaker 2: Probably really unlikely, And again he.
Speaker 3: Was loosely compromised with his brother and stuff like that.
That whole whole scene just like baiting him to like
trip him with the cord and then he goes into
the hole and I wasn't expecting the grate to be
down there, and it just like snaps his ankle to
the slide.
Speaker 2: Fuck. That was such a good like bait trap.
Speaker 1: Oh man, did you like the uh the Arnold eighties
line when he choking with the phone and starts the
ring he puts up against his ears like it's for you,
and then all the kids started like stick around, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
you'll find But like know, I did like all the
kids talking. I thought that was kind of a little
cheese there. But again, that just makes me think of
I am very curious and I'd love to read some
interviews after like him saying, oh yeah, I used to
hear things from that phone, so it's just like like
he hears it again now, you know, like obviously this
is the same like transferring probably into like a hell
or something like that, because these souls are almost taking
his soul. But again, if he used to hear it
and he's hearing it now, I'd love to know the
correlation between those two. You know, yeah, definitely, I think
I've showed out everything I have because that's what it's.
It's funny because we're not even at the hour mark,
but I feel like that's where the movie that I
said is still good. But I guess I was still
expecting a little I was expecting just like maybe one
more thing to really kind of take us to a
different routes. The same thing with Sinister, Like one of
my favorite things spoils for Sinister, But is that thing
when they start to reveal like, oh, it doesn't matter
if you move, like it's gonna fall you. And there's
like that last third act where it's like, oh shit,
like everything. I'm not saying I need exactly that, but
I was just I thought something more would kind of
happen where it's not one of these where, oh you've
seen the trailer, you've seen the movie, but I think
the movie falls pretty close like what the trailer showed
up kidding it gets kidnapped by creepy dude who can
act really well. These kids give him a lesson, and
he's gonna use these lessons to take down the guy,
and that's pretty much it. You know, there's a few
little wrinkles here and there, like the Sister with the
dreams and stuff, but it's it's pretty straightforward once you
know the movie, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely, like in retrospect, it is certainly a streamlined
kind of film where it's not it doesn't really have
like that big and kind of like blow you away
kind of moment, but it just has this adventure that
you're going on and this.
Speaker 2: Developing story with these characters. And that was good enough
for me.
Speaker 3: Again, I wasn't sure what I was really going to
be in store for aside from just this boy he's
gonna get kidnapped, He's gonna be doing some tinkering around
with some paranormal things, and it just threw in a
whole bunch of other components that I really enjoyed, and
I think it stacked well and made a good movie.
Speaker 2: Sandwich.
Speaker 3: I did think it was kind of I don't want
to say humorous, but he just walks out and he
sees all the cops the house across the street at
the end, like, you know, fuck, you're at the wrong house.
Speaker 2: What do you do?
Speaker 1: No, I know, they wouldn't have never saved him. They're
just like, oh, you must have killed him somewhere else
and they're already like setting up shop just to look
into this thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, like I don't even know what you do as
a cop. They did the right thing, but like they're
just coming out of the house that they're right, Like,
holy fuck, it's a missing boy.
Speaker 2: In that house.
Speaker 1: Like I thank god we had no fuck I look next,
we're so lost. Yeah, have another dream woman come on,
like we need your info and stuff like that. Well,
what I would ask you, because you liked it a
bit more than me, Like I said, I think if
Emily wants to see this one comes to yod I
watch again after that, I don't know when I think
it'd be a pretty well you know again you saw
it with Mads and so do you think, like when
do you think would you watch this me again? If so, Like,
what do you think the timeframe is on it for you?
Speaker 3: Honestly, I'm not in a rush to visit it. If
I if I were to rewatch it, it would only
be based on my interest of spotting things that I
know I missed this first time, because I feel like
there's a lot of subtleties in the background that I overlooked.
So that me said, I'm in no rush.
Speaker 1: But I definitely want you put on Halloween like it's.
Speaker 3: On myself, you know, yeah, because I definitely associate Ethan
Hawk with being up there with one of these like
crazy killers. He's definitely not like a killer icon like
a Jason Voorhe's no Kruger, but he's definitely up there.
It's like one of these icons or like new iconic
kind of like villains.
Speaker 1: But I won't go that far.
Speaker 2: I think he's not like a legend, but no, I know,
I know, I.
Speaker 1: Just don't think he'll have to sit like even the
way like Bagool had the staying power, like yeah, maybe
quick because like the basket and his performance is great,
his performance fantastic, but him also being presumably dead kind
of you know, takes it all.
Speaker 2: Do the don't breathe narrative.
Speaker 1: We'll get the sequel that body becomes a hero.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, but yeah, I think, uh, i'd probably I'm
no rush to see it. I probably would see it again,
maybe in like a year, a couple of years, So
I want to revisit it and just put on like
a spooky movie. I know chances are I'll be at home.
Would be in the evening, I'll see it on Netflix, like,
oh you know what, let's pop it on vod why not.
But I'm I'm not gonna see it again in theaters
and I'm in no rush to see it again immediately
as it drops on streaming services.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's one of those that it's kind of
unfortunate where I'm not sure what it'll be. Like I'm
sure maybe in the villain Spotty would get in there,
maybe the kids, but there's been so many performances. It's
one that I thought was gonna maybe play more when
we get to Golden Geeks next year. And it's kind
of like I don't think I would fight for much
of it, Like even even Hawk, he's great, but if
there's a few other villains that would be better than
I could easily like place him, And not because the
performance is bad, just because like more lack of screen time,
because like I still want a little bit more. So
I just kind of thought would be a super hit
there and everything like that. But uh, you know, my
final thoughts of kinda give them overall that it was.
It was a good, solid movie. Like I said, I
think I sud more down on it, but it's just
maybe because I thought it was like I was referring
to Golden Geeks. When we heard about the plot and
we saw the trailer, I thought was gonna be one
of those like Man and I love Sinnis or Sinister
is one of my favorite, like newer horror movies as
far as the probably last decades. So I thought, oh man,
we're in for like a nice sleeper hit here where
it's like, Okay, it was a good, solid, scary story,
you know that, that's what it was, and it's you know,
check boxes. I would never say it's bad or anything
like that. So that's where I'm gonna go with seven
out of ten. That's where I am. That's like a
C plus. That's kind of how I feel about it.
Like I said, I like Taylor where I will watch again,
but I'm no rush. I think my time span is
probably a lot later other than okay, maybe I want
to see it, but even then, it's just I think
there's other things we would rather probably watch before this again.
For even to get her to get her caught up
on something you know, so uh so solid, you know,
fun horror flick. It entertained me for about under two hours,
but kind of, as I said at the beginning, a
little underwhelming for me, so I'm not going to be
returning to it too much. So where are you on this?
Speaker 3: On final score, I'd probably go a seven point five,
just a little bit higher than you.
Speaker 2: It's not a perfect movie.
Speaker 3: I would have loved it if it had that kind
of like twist at the end or something like that
to really like send us for a loop, But no,
I think it it was good. I definitely think you
should do one watching of it in the theater and
just kind of go on this adventure and enjoy it
for what it is. It's definitely a spooky movie, and
a big plus for me is I could leave the
theater and not feel like shit, like so depressing or
anything like that. But I had like a good resolution
to it, and it had a good follow up with
these characters getting vindication and yeah, just when it should
hit the fan, like it hit the fan, and it
had a lot of moments where I was really on
edge and I like that.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's definitely a seven and a half.
Speaker 1: There you go. Well, we reviewed The Black Phone. If
you get kirkslon slots when he sees that eventually in
jump on here and uh yeah, thank you very much
for tuning in. When you hear from us next, it'll
not be boring.