After coming out in 2021, The Black Phone quickly became the favorite movie of many, including me. The suspense, characters, backstories, small details, and plot twists are just some of the aspects that make this movie so interesting and a must-watch. And although this movie is horror, (which I usually don’t enjoy watching so much) I would watch it a million times if I could.  

     The plot starts off in a neighborhood, with our main character named Finney and his sister Gwen, they have an abusive father and have had a rough childhood. In this neighborhood, a famous killer called the Grabber would grab teen boys in the middle of the day. Nobody knew what he did with them until Finney got kidnapped while walking home from his friend's house. The Grabber took him to his basement and kept him there for days, coming in constantly to check on him but never hurt him. Finney notices there is a phone on the wall, which looks disconnected but rings ever so often. When Finney picks it up, he hears the Grabbers' past victims who attempt to help him escape. During all of this, his sister is having dreams about where her brother may be and uses these dreams to try and help her brother escape. This allows her to see the Grabber’s house, but what he doesn’t know is that he has two houses, one to hide the bodies, and one to keep the kids in. After Finney successfully kills the Grabber, he escapes home to his family.  

     One of my favorite things the producers have done is the way they gave a backstory to each of the characters, they show us what they were doing before they got kidnapped, and a little bit about each of them. We also learn a bit more about the characters through the advice they give, and the tone they give while helping Finney out. For example. Vance (one of the victims) was known as a “rebel” and the way he talks to Finney on the phone really shows us more of his personality. Some may argue that this makes the movie too complicated, but in reality, it allowed us to connect with the characters more and made the movie so much more enjoyable due to the different personalities and backgrounds. 

     Another thing this movie did well was use plot twists throughout the entire story. For example, in the end, we learn that the Grabber owns two houses across from each other. Before this has been revealed, we see the cops going into the body house, thinking that it’s the right house, but they don’t see anything in the basement, this adds confusion and suspense to the story since we don’t know whether they are going to find Finney or not. Another example of subtle plot twist is how the Grabber acts; we expect him to do something to Finney as soon as he captures him. But instead, he comes in every hour to give him food, to talk to him, and play the “Naughty Boy” game. For the game, he gives Finney chances to escape, but if he takes one of the chances, The Grabber will kill him. Finney doesn’t use any of the chances, therefore allowing him to live longer. This gives us a lot of suspicion and suspense since we know that something is going to happen eventually, but we just don’t know when. This makes this movie stand out, making it unpredictable unlike most horror movies. 

     This movie gives importance to all the small details, for example, the black phone on the wall. We notice the phone in the back of the first couple of scenes, but it is unplugged, and we expect it not to work. Then later Finney gets phone calls on it from the past victims, helping him escape. One of the past victims tells us that the grabber can hear the phone ringing and that he gets mad every time. This makes us wonder why The Grabber hasn’t just taken the phone off the wall after the last victim and makes us think about him and his intentions more. 

     In conclusion, The Black Phone stands out from other horror movies I've seen because of the small details, suspense, characters and backstories, and plot twists. This movie is a little scary, therefore I recommend it mostly for people who enjoy horror movies since it has the perfect amount of suspicion and an amazing plot. This makes it unpredictable and very enjoyable.