The Black Phone
Universal Pictures | Release Date: June 24, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
23
Mixed:
12
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
RogerEbert.comPeyton RobinsonJun 23, 2022
Stylistically, the film is nostalgic, reminiscent of vintage photographs and the era of striped baby tees, flared jeans, and The Ramones. Warm browns and oranges, film grain, and filtered light flood the screen. But this idyllic '70s suburbia is corrupted by Derrickson’s horror. Read full review
91
Original-CinThom ErnstJun 24, 2022
The Black Phone doesn’t disappoint, although it delivers in ways unexpected. And though it takes time, the payoff is worth the effort put into packing up old expectations and unpacking new. But fair warning: The Black Phone is not the easy-to-digest horror film you might think. Read full review
91
IndieWireMarisa MirabalSep 30, 2021
The Black Phone is a succinct and stressful terror blanketed with themes of friendship, family, and inventive portrayals of resiliency. Read full review
90
Film ThreatBobby LePireJun 27, 2022
It’s scary, intense, and moody. Derrickson’s first film since Doctor Strange (the first one, the good one) is one of the best horror films in a very long time. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 22, 2022
The film only works if Ethan Hawke is scary. And he is. Read full review
90
IGNAmelia EmberwingOct 24, 2021
The Black Phone mixes the supernatural with relatable horrors in ways that will leave you both terrified and hopeful. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerJun 23, 2022
It's the period details that really make The Black Phone ring. It's not the set dressing, or the costumes, or the hairstyles (although Jeremy Davies does sport a fantastic muttonchops-mullet merger as Gwen and Finney's alcoholic, abusive father). It's that grimy sense of the era, that way that kids felt left to their own devices. This is an Amblin adventure drenched in R-rated fear. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJun 22, 2022
Based on a short story from Joe Hill and directed with tone-perfect style by Scott Derrickson, who wrote the screen adaptation with his “Doctor Strange” writing partner C. Robert Cargill, The Black Phone is a hauntingly effective, perfectly paced, consistently chilling and wickedly warped horror gem. Read full review
85
SlashfilmEric VespeSep 27, 2021
For my money, The Black Phone is more complete and effective than Derrickson's previous horror movie "Sinister" and is the first feature adaptation of Joe Hill's work that demands more big-screen Joe Hill adaptations. Read full review
80
The Irish TimesTara BradyJun 24, 2022
Hawke and Thames respectively give two big performances to enact a compelling cat-and-mouse game, in a film wherein even the supporting characters are richly drawn. Read full review
80
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyJun 23, 2022
As with Derrickson’s previous collaboration with Hawke, 2012’s Sinister, the director proves he can deliver an effective jumpscare – slick, and not too telegraphed. But there’s a thematic weight here that elevates The Black Phone above any of his previous work in the genre, a dark reminder of how often moral panics and bogeymen are conjured up in order to turn a society’s eyes away from the real and inescapable violence happening in people’s own homes. Read full review
80
EmpireBen TravisJun 21, 2022
Despite its darker-than-dark premise — Abduction! Dead kids! Imprisonment! — The Black Phone finds hope in the midst of the horror. Looking for soulful scares this summer? Answer the call. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeOct 5, 2021
The story’s final third works even better than the buildup would suggest, shrugging off some of the atmospherics and, with a clever nod to a classic in the serial-killer genre, focusing all the movie’s energies on a sequence that delivers Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 27, 2022
The Black Phone is as solid a horror film as has come out post-pandemic and brings back memories of when “horror” meant more than an assembled sequence of shocks and blood-soaked clichés. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJun 23, 2022
Blunt but brutally effective little slice of supernatural horror. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJun 22, 2022
There’s nothing unheard of here: a bad guy, a haunted house, a hero. But it’s what The Black Phone does with those simple parts that sparks a spooky connection. Read full review
75
The Associated PressMark KennedyJun 22, 2022
What makes The Black Phone stand out is how it perfectly captures what growing up was like in the often raw ’70s and an utter respect for the world of kids. Every adult is either dismissive and distant — or downright murderous. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 22, 2022
There are stretches in this movie, which I saw in a crowded preview last night, where you literally could hear a pin drop. The silence on the soundtrack is breathless, the held breaths of the audience deafening. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshJun 23, 2022
Thames delivers a searingly authentic performance as the young Finney, and when he’s all alone in the basement with ghosts, “The Black Phone” is at its best: suspenseful, emotional and filled with jump scares. Read full review
70
Little White LiesAnton BitelJun 23, 2022
Ultimately this story of a young boy’s emergence exhibits strong teleological leanings, suggesting that all our endeavours – even our apparent failures – ultimately have a purpose in a grander scheme. Read full review
70
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisJun 23, 2022
In place of gouting gore and surging fright, this enjoyable adaptation of Joe Hill’s 2005 short story has an almost contemplative tone, one that drains its familiar horror tropes — a masked psychopath, communications from beyond the grave — of much of their chill. The movie’s low goose bump count, though, is far from ruinous. Read full review
67
The PlaylistJason BaileySep 27, 2021
Derrickson can build a mood and craft creepy imagery, and he moves his camera with precision. But this feels like a notebook of compelling visual and narrative ideas that never quite fit together, that can’t quite manage to coalesce into coherence. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Sarah-Tai BlackAug 30, 2022
The Black Phone is an enjoyable watch, for sure, but it lacks a certain agility, which keeps it from being as great as we want it to be. Read full review
60
NMEPaul BradshawJul 15, 2022
Fortunately, Hawke is fantastic. Over-acting like his life depends on it, his mad kabuki mugging somehow works perfectly. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeJun 27, 2022
A solid, spooky period chiller. Read full review
60
Screen RantBen KendrickJun 24, 2022
The result is a beautifully shot and well-acted live-action short story, but one that's missing enough connective tissue, fresh ideas, and time spent between its characters to produce a lasting feature film experience. Read full review
60
Time OutDan JolinJun 23, 2022
The narrative is unadventurously straightforward, and anyone looking for any neat twists or wrinkles will be disappointed; the spectral nature of Finney’s allies could have made for a neat final-act reveal. But the performances are uniformly strong, with McGraw stealing scenes and Hawke exercising his dark side so effectively that, after this and Moon Knight, he’ll leave you in no doubt of his flair for villainy. Read full review
60
TheWrapSimon AbramsJun 20, 2022
Derrickson and Cargill successfully tailor their focused and mostly compelling narrative to a Steven Spielberg/Amblin Entertainment–esque bit of Stephen King–sploitation. Read full review
60
VarietyOwen GleibermanJun 20, 2022
It’s a horror ride that holds you, and it should have no trouble carving out an audience, but I didn’t find it particularly scary. Read full review
58
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonJun 23, 2022
The performances are strong, and the film excels in isolated setpieces. It’s just a shame to see a neat idea largely go to waste. Read full review
50
Rolling StoneA.A. DowdJun 23, 2022
The movie often plays like another Stranger Things dilution, watering down the paperback thrills of literature’s reigning master of horror into an inferior throwback substitution. Read full review
50
ColliderAlyse WaxJun 23, 2022
There are very few classic hallmarks of horror films in The Black Phone. They arrive in the third act, but before that, it is a lot of… nothing. Talking. No cat-and-mouse chasing. No killing. Not even any suspense. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineKeith WatsonJun 22, 2022
Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill are adept enough at setting up rich, evocative horror concepts, but they don’t always know what to do with them once they’re in place. Read full review
50
The Film StageJohn FinkJun 21, 2022
Perhaps The Black Phone should have pushed its premise a bit more, building real stakes and real thrills in a deeper analysis of its archetypes. If performances by Thames, McGraw, and Hawke are strong, there could stand to be a few more twists and a bit more character development to transcend what is a middle-of-the-road psychological thriller. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubTodd GilchristJun 20, 2022
Answer the call of The Black Phone if you dare. Just be aware that, much like the severed cord dangling underneath the device, there’s a crucial disconnect between the provocative ideas that it sets up, and what it ultimately delivers. Read full review
37
Paste MagazineJesse HassengerJun 21, 2022
Though its actual storytelling is pretty arbitrary, The Black Phone has the emotional simplicity of a children’s film, wearing its grit like makeup. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJun 22, 2022
The Black Phone has better-than-average acting, an interesting period setting and well-developed characters. But it runs out of story less than halfway through, forcing the filmmakers to repeat the same kinds of actions, over and over, in order to stretch it to feature length. Read full review
20
The TelegraphTim RobeyJun 24, 2022
It’s the film that’s hell – and a very dull, desperate hell at that, as if these dungeon masters have realised we aren’t sufficiently scared by the main event, and try throwing the kitchen sink at us, almost literally. Read full review
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