The Reel Rejects - THE BLACK PHONE (2021) IS ABSOLUTELY CHILLING!! MOVIE REVIEW!!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Thank you to Huell for sponsoring this video. More on them in just a bit. All right. We are, I think we're ready to go. Let's get into the black phone commencing in three, two, and a one. Oh, my God. Andrew Aaron, we're back. Yes, we are.

Starting point is 00:00:25 It's a slightly new setup. We're trying some new things. We had to cut. sole least of the week could all change clothes and get these tables in here and now it's time to talk about the black freaking phone yeah we need to talk about that

Starting point is 00:00:40 phone let's just say the things that we say to people hello we're the supernatural people they're not coming I don't see them you know prepper and all that stuff to do the things yeah by the way guys thank you so much for joining us for this reaction special thanks to find folks over at Preper for editing the on these highlights it is a task

Starting point is 00:00:56 we appreciate all their hard work they are the MVP's over here Also, if you're watching us on YouTube, make sure you do all the YouTube stuff. Share the video, if you don't mind. Hit that like button, see you last know. We are bringing you top quality content. Don't forget to ring it a bell. Well, you're notified whenever we drop videos such as these.

Starting point is 00:01:17 And also, if you're listening to us on Apple or Spotify, make sure you give us a five-star rating. We'd really appreciate it. Hey. How are you guys feeling? Oh, man. I mean, that movie lived up to the hype. pretty well for me. I thought, without, you know, we're going to answer a couple questions, so I'm not going to go on forever.

Starting point is 00:01:33 But, yeah, I thought this had a really great grip on its tone, and it's, you know, kind of a simple, it's a deceptively simple movie in terms of plotting and whatnot, but the performances from Mason Thames and Madeline McGraw, terrific, Ethan Hawke,

Starting point is 00:01:49 fantastic use of his talent and a very creepy presence on screen, you know, that harkens to horror villains in tradition, but also feels wholly like its own thing with an actual character behind it, the changing of the masks and just the way he carried

Starting point is 00:02:05 himself and great supporting cast really well shot, really well realized and yeah, I'm excited to see the second one. Good stuff. Aaron? Yeah, I thought it was a really exciting, really intriguing film. I think the lead did an amazing

Starting point is 00:02:21 job of showcasing, you know, the, what it's like to be both youthful and afraid, but also brave during the situation and then utilizing the people or the boys who have been murdered prior to him to help him escape in a way that he was able to respond to them and the way that they did certain shots with how they showcase the dead kids and the visual language of how they utilized their previous experiences to help our main character was great

Starting point is 00:02:54 Ethan Hawk was spooky and haunting and you can tell there's just so much history to his character that wasn't on display or that wasn't necessarily verbalized to us in the film and yeah I think it's it was great. It's one of the best films of that year. Absolutely. Yeah. No.

Starting point is 00:03:12 Well said. Incredible performances by everyone. Great story. I really like the supernatural motif. I wasn't expecting the film to go there. I think it lends credence that you can really blend supernatural and you know, grounded horror really work well together.

Starting point is 00:03:29 especially in this case. So I thought the film did a great job blending the two. Mason Thames, I probably mispronounce his name. The actor played Finney. He did a great job, really showcasing his vulnerability and his emotional arc

Starting point is 00:03:41 where he really had this resilient side to him just really delved deep into his character and I like the way we built up to that throughout the film. And again, the supernatural characters that he was interacting with throughout the film just really led Cretens again also to the fact that he had to

Starting point is 00:03:58 really go to a place that he'd never gone to. Yes, he had dealt with physical abuse from his own father, and then I think that really led him to a place where he could go to. That character. Yeah, so. And I thought the actress who played Gwen was phenomenal. I think she had a really quick wit with some raw intensity, and I really thought she stole some, a lot of the scenes she was in.

Starting point is 00:04:21 She was incredible, and Ethan Hawke, I think he proved in his performance just how chilling he was, and probably this is actually going to lead into this question, actually from Jaden Rhodes here. How do y'all feel about Ethan Hawking, the character of The Grabber? And do you all think he's one of the better and modern-day villains for horror? And as I was just saying about The Grabber, I think this really proves that you don't always need to go to overt violence when it comes to villains in a film. Yeah, he did have that one scene where he took out his brother, of course, and obviously we know what he did to a lot of the other kids.

Starting point is 00:04:50 But we didn't see it. It was a lot of the things we weren't seeing, just from his chilling tone and his voice, the way he was able to modulate his voices. really scared the shit out of me personally and the way he was able to emote with his eyes because his face was a lot of the time covered up and I think that is a power to the level of an actor such as an Ethan Hawk

Starting point is 00:05:10 and I was really terrified of him and he spent a spent he sent chills down my spine this performance so I would definitely put him up there in the modern day villains for sure when it comes to horror and it was in really magnifying performance I would say

Starting point is 00:05:28 So I would definitely say incredible job by Ethan Hawke. Yeah, I think it speaks to his versatility as an actor, being able to play somebody that is both terrifying and it's weird because he plays a serial killer that is terrifying, has an imposing build, yet is soft-spoken, and does those voice modulations over the course of the film. And I thought the most interesting thing that his final impression, that we saw him alive is when our main character takes his mask off and he like freaks out because he doesn't have his true face or what he believes to be his true face and I'm like whoa I didn't know he like that was he viewed that as an extension of him like that's the thing that gave him courage like his like his mad like he was Batman that's his true identity so I think the way that there was some unspoken history of that character and you feel that in his performance and yeah like how you were saying implied violence

Starting point is 00:06:28 can be so much scarier than the stuff we actually see and the fact that he was able to take down people of different sizes a couple of them were like you know the clown or class heroes like the blonde kid who like beat up the other people and then our friend with the bandana who beat up the bullies and the bullies were afraid of him so he was like the guy taking down other kids that were viewed as I guess the alpha male of the kid hierarchy or whatnot because he wanted to he felt like a big kid and he wanted to feel like the biggest kid on the playground, which is why he used motifs like magic and balloons

Starting point is 00:07:02 and stuff. So I feel like the stuff that wasn't explicitly on the page and the subtext of his character was really interesting. I would love to like talk to him about this character. I agree. I think that you could even make a whole film on his backstory just to see what caused him to get

Starting point is 00:07:18 to this place where he feels he needs to do these things. For sure, John? I don't want that film necessarily. I'm not saying I need to see it, but you could. It's rich enough that, yeah, I think Ethan Hawks is one of my favorite actors and has been for a long time and I love that he does have some

Starting point is 00:07:32 propensity for doing horror stuff on occasion and I think this is a role that is deceptively you know, meriting of a talent like his that is again subtle enough but to be like, you know, you can kind of see how he might blend

Starting point is 00:07:48 in or how he might, you know, appeal to these kids in some way even between the moments where he's more sinister and whatnot. And yeah, you get the sense that there's something really up with this guy, but the fun is you just sort of observe him in limited fashion

Starting point is 00:08:04 and yeah, he's very volatile, but he is very childlike and you can tell he's got some kind of order in mind or some kind of idea of what he wants and what he's doing and why. And even if we don't know that, you know, he feels appropriately

Starting point is 00:08:20 like he could be some otherworldly skewing entity or just some guy in a small town who has real problems. And I like the way that contributes to the small town feeling the sort of there's something unique about the paranoia

Starting point is 00:08:36 of yeah, a tight-knit community and kids going missing and the sort of true crime elements and everything is like just grounded enough but leaves the door open enough that the supernatural stuff reads either authentically or, you know, metaphorically in an effective way. And yeah, I really

Starting point is 00:08:54 liked his use of the different faces and the way he performed physically beyond, you know, his voice, which is also very distinct, the gravel, the grit, the low register, his higher registers, you know, yeah, this really deceptively utilizes so many of his tools and tricks and it is the kind of role that you could you could choose to cast anybody here, but I think

Starting point is 00:09:17 it's the kind of role that really benefits from having like a top notch actor to fill it with so many things that make you want to see that backstory or curious about it anyway. I wonder if Denzel Washington would have messed with this Ethan Hawkins Maining Day. It's a question we should all contemplate. If you haven't read it already, don't read the last line of the second question. The last line of the second question? Oh, it is being compared part?

Starting point is 00:09:39 Yeah. Oh, I kind of read. It's all good. It's fine. I don't mind. I appreciate you looking at it. It's all good. Does anyone want to read or should I?

Starting point is 00:09:48 Hassanah Ali. Thank you for chiming in. When I saw this film, it reminded me of Stephen King's stories like it. and the book is, this is adapted from a Joe Hill book. Joe Hill is the son of Stephen King. So there's an apple falling... You did mention that, yeah. Apple's not fallen far from the tree here.

Starting point is 00:10:05 I was surprised to find out that the story was written by his son, Joe Hill, as you pointed out. Are you excited for the sequel? Yes. I am avoiding the trailer, but the only thing I know is that it is being compared to a Nightmare on the Street during Warriors. Three! Yes! That is my second favorite of the nightmare franchise.

Starting point is 00:10:22 I think the first one's my favorite. The third one is my second. second favorite, I would say West Craven's New Nightmare is probably my third favorite. Justice for Nightmare 2. Freddy's Revenge? Hey, I actually, you know what? I did. I dig that movie. It's 1985 directed by Jack Scholder. They replaced Robert England for a couple of scenes. You can tell the one in the shower scene

Starting point is 00:10:40 where he takes out the coach. You got the body. I got the brains. Yeah, no, I still like that movie. But if it's really being compared to Nightmare in Elm Street Dream Warriors, I think that's a fascinating thing because I think what that film uh you know what that film does i think akin to a little bit of this film is there's a lot of resiliency and uh coming together and yeah i would say that in comparison and um i mean i don't know if there's going to be stop motion in uh this is the sequel to this but yeah there's so many things expressly what yeah i'm sure that i'm sure that's the thing but are we in uh are we going to

Starting point is 00:11:18 be in a psych ward like weston hills i don't know are we going to be using hypnosis i don't know but Whatever the case is... The answer is yes. Yes, of course. It's all. Yeah, but again, if we've got a group of people that are working together because of the trauma they have faced from this one person or entity, whatever, I think that's a fascinating way to take a sequel. I think there are lots of places to explore, so I think that's great.

Starting point is 00:11:42 Again, I love Dream Warriors. I've seen that movie probably over 30 times, so I'm definitely going to be referencing it many times I would imagine in that second reaction. So be on the lookout for that, Aaron. I've not seen any of the Nightmare and Elk Street movies but I am very excited for the sequel I really love this one and I literally was in a movie the other day and I started

Starting point is 00:12:03 playing the trailer for the second one and I literally ran out with like covering my ears because I don't want to get any spoilers but yeah this movie is great and it's the same creative team then yeah I'm here for it I was wondering in my head and I'm like you saw a trailer in theaters for a nightmare Nelm Street two Fraser and I'm like okay now I know

Starting point is 00:12:20 now I know what you're talking about I got you. John. Black phone too. I'm excited for it for sure. And yeah, same creative team, a lot of returning cast. I feel like there's a lot to build on here. The buzz is currently good. And yeah, I think it's really fun to discover that this is, you know, a cut of the Stephen King cloth. And it does have a lot of king-esque things about it. And I feel like as long as they can keep their eye on the groundedness and the nuance of the human side of the story, as well as build upon, you know, the sort of uniquely, uh, kind of unnerving qualities of the grabber. Yeah, I think there's a lot of promise there. I don't think I've seen a full trailer and so, yeah, the comparison to Dream Warriors just makes me wonder in a fun way.

Starting point is 00:13:04 So, yeah, heck yeah, let's go. It's because, yeah, there's a dock in black phone. Yeah. Oh, Kev B, thank you for sounding the question, Cap B. Did you catch that Finney might share some kind of psychic connection with his sister

Starting point is 00:13:21 and their late mother? Or did you think the black phone is just a spooky supernatural lifeline? How does your take on that change the way you see Finney's escape? Interesting, John? Good question. I think it's interesting

Starting point is 00:13:34 because I think the movie does a very nice job and Mason Thames is a lovely actor. I really like all of the performances I've seen him give and I think he sells both in his performance and they sell in the script his resourcefulness. So I believe a lot of the tangibility

Starting point is 00:13:49 of what's going on here. But I do think it's a nice, like I like that we're mostly focused in on Gwen in terms of that clairvoyance, whatever it may be. But I would have to imagine that, yeah, you know, something to do with what she has is probably within him too. He's probably got some element of shine, even though it's not maybe the same. And maybe that's why, you know, the phone works for him. And maybe the grabber has a similar kind of thing and is afraid to confront it or, you know, except. it or whatever, but I think it's fun that you can

Starting point is 00:14:25 wonder, and I think if you want to take it as a literal supernatural occurrence, that's a cool way to look at the story, and I think it's a sweet thing that the kids band together to help him, you know, and if that's, yeah, like an actual effect of their spirits and his psychic attenuation, cool.

Starting point is 00:14:41 If it's just some kind of metaphorical thing, also cool. But yeah, it doesn't like, I don't know, it doesn't, it just adds to the interesting, you know, flavors of his both peril at being confined and his ultimate triumph in escaping.

Starting point is 00:14:58 Yeah, I thought it was pretty cool the fact that he was able to talk to these previous boys who have died. It's funny because I haven't seen the movie, but isn't there something similar to that movie, Lovely Bones? I never saw it.

Starting point is 00:15:14 I had seen any of. Okay, hey. I was thinking of Lorraine Gary's psychic connection with the Shark and Jaws the Revenge. that's what you know reminded me of but you know but i think that the fact that he was in the situation and didn't seem like he had powers prior to this or like a conscious connection with the undead but putting him this in this kind of situation ignited that ability within him and you know them working in tandem with the dead is what helped him uh sort of escape there now did they uh at the end of the movie he was like the grabber was talking

Starting point is 00:15:50 through the red phone or the black phone right he was like listening to the kids talk to him or something like that i think i think so yeah he heard all the voices of all the kids he had taken out when they say like he can hear it he just doesn't want to like admit that you know he doesn't want to oh you think he's just trying to like shut him out yeah i think so because they earlier on one of the spirits i think says like he can hear it he just doesn't want to pick up he just doesn't want to like confront it oh okay that's what they say you know yeah i think it's up to interpretation i i mean we saw like things we saw like objects being physically moved where i obviously made the the patrick suazy ghost references where he could

Starting point is 00:16:31 literally do those things and make the things physically move like that so i think it's up to interpretation you can view it as yeah he really did have this psychic connection with his sister and you can view it as it was more metaphorical and you know he was kind of using uh his this supernatural ability in his mind. This is how he interpreted things as a way of escaping this and emotionally growing as well. So I

Starting point is 00:16:57 think either way... Maybe he saw the evidence of previous tries. And this is what was going on through his head. Yeah, I think either way, honestly, is fine of way interpreting it. I personally like the psychic connection with a sister, but again, I don't

Starting point is 00:17:14 think you're wrong either way. It's subject to your opinion and I think both ways I think it really hones in and they both balance each other out nicely with the grounded realism of the film like I not for one minute when I was watching this grounded film was I like what the hell is this supernatural shit I didn't question it for one moment is the point I'm trying to make and I appreciated what they were going for and I think they executed Scott derrickson rather and the crew and the writing team I forgot his R. C.R. Robert Cargill thank you really executed nicely on what they were going for were trying to do because I understood what they were going for and I thought it was brilliant. So thank you so much, Kebby, for the question. We really appreciate you. Rejagnation, at the start of this year, I was over 218 pounds, over 22% body fat. By the time I reached September, I got under 10% body fat, dropped nearly about 50 pounds.

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Starting point is 00:19:07 and you're good to go. And at under $5 a meal, Huell helps me not to stay on track physically, but also financially. So go ahead and join the over 3 million people. fueling with Huell. Visit Huel.com slash real rejects to try it for yourself today. You can claim your offer and get free shipping on your first order. Once again, Huell.com slash real rejects to claim your offer and get free shipping on your first order. Thank you, Huell, for being a partner of my life. All right, Nikki Sun, Risa. Thank you so much for being a royal reject and for asking the question. We appreciate you. What do you think of the theory that the

Starting point is 00:19:44 grabber was also clairvoyant i've also seen this speculation online before and fully believe it would you want to see a prequel about the grabber's origins well we know how john feels about a prequel he definitely wants to see it uh i mean when it comes to i mean he could be clairvoyant and just as these guys were just saying and just kind of chooses not to accept it and doesn't like you know that's that's his way of ignoring the fact of what he has done and that's how he accepts you know, again, just not taking responsibility, basically, for what he's done. When it comes to a prequel, again, it's not about me wanting to see. Like I said, when it comes to the overt violence, I like that they, for the most part,

Starting point is 00:20:30 other than the brother, that was more shock value for us as the audience. I was like, holy shit. We need one slasher movie kill here. For sure, for sure. Which was fine. That was great. And was it Max? Was that his brother's name?

Starting point is 00:20:41 Or what is his name? It's a bit of a little bit. Either way, if you go into his backstory, depending on the effed-up crap that probably happened to him is my guest, to get him to a point of wanting to abduct and do these heinous things to children, you know, it's either going to put us in the audience

Starting point is 00:21:02 as a place of, again, not justifying anything that he's doing, regardless of whatever has happened to him and his childhood that led to this point. It's either going to give us a place of, again, either a place of feeling empathetic towards him and sympathetic, while not justifying, but giving us a perspective on why he is doing the things he is doing. So, or just, he's Michael Myers, he's, he's Rediger, he doesn't fear of evil, sorry. Nah. He is Max, by the way. Yeah, okay.

Starting point is 00:21:33 James Ransone from Sincer. By the way, and he was also in It, Chapter 2. There you go. That's why I didn't recognize he had the freaking, the goateeaties. and what i'm like why is this guy look so familiar i just watched it chapter two so i'm sure you guys have let me know already in the comments but either way i said you guys have let me know it in the comments so yeah i i would say look if they do make a prequel with this i would say obviously you can't have heathen hawk playing the kid you could have the narration be ethan hoc i think that'd be

Starting point is 00:22:01 de age him but what do you guys think you want a prequel oh do you think he was clairvoyant uh yeah I feel like he probably is clairvoyant and kind of pushing that away and, you know, yeah, kind of like how John was saying. I feel like maybe I was, at first I wasn't sure because I thought that, okay, maybe because he's close to death, now he can hear them. But if it was something to the fact that he could always hear them, but just like kind of pushes it down, I would be curious to see a prequel. I genuinely would see why he is the way he is if he's always been. clairvoyant is him killing you know him wrestling with that relationship of his clairvoyance

Starting point is 00:22:44 yeah I don't know I'd be curious to know everything about that why he wears the masks at all you know what is his relationship with his own perception of self and his face you know I think that that's some interesting territory to potentially cross over that is a very interesting point you've actually opened up a new thought in my head too

Starting point is 00:23:03 just and then we'll get to you really quickly here what you just said about you know was he's so close to death and that's why he was hearing those voices. Could he even make a case? We were talking about the aspects with Mason, Thames, whatever you say, is the name Finney's character about, like, it could all be like, you know, supernatural with

Starting point is 00:23:19 his sister or it's just actual motifs of what's going on through his mind. It could also be he's so close to death because of like what's about to happen to him and that's how he's hearing these voices too. So that actually opened up. That's an interesting theory and thought that's making my mind race a little bit. I like that actually. What

Starting point is 00:23:35 about you? Do you think he's clairvoyant? How soon do you want to see that prequel? What year? I mean, like, I wouldn't be like, hey, don't do it. But, like, anything, you can make anything good if you work at it hard enough and you come up with a good idea. So, like, you know, never say never. It is an interesting character. I would, if they made one, certainly walk in with an open mind excited to see them knock it out of the park. I think the grabber being clairvoyant is a lovely read on that. And I think you could also imagine then that part of his game is that, like, he's trying to see if he says,

Starting point is 00:24:07 that he tries to discourage him from using the phone. He's like, it doesn't work, and the kids are like, oh, you know, he can hear it. He just doesn't want to. So part of me wonders if, because it seems like he wants you to win the game. It doesn't seem like he's happy that the naughty boys are naughty and he has to kill them, you know,

Starting point is 00:24:25 and that's part of also what makes him interesting. And there's a Edgar Allen poish quality to having the voices of your victims kind of taunting you in the basement from this, you know, disconnected old phone. and you kind of digging this whole deeper and deeper with this fixation. You have this ritual you have to perform. And yet it's clear he's a messed up dude.

Starting point is 00:24:47 What makes you say that? There's a strong case for the clairvoyance, and I think there are fun notes that you can read as him directly acknowledging it if you want to. And maybe, you know, there's something about Finney being special in that they can resonate that way, even though it's never directly confronted head on. Yeah. Yeah. No, it'd be interesting if, like, he had a lot of.

Starting point is 00:25:06 a lot of the same experiences as Finney as a kid, but because Finney did face these things head on, as you just say, that's why he was able to really build this resiliency towards it, and that's what led to this depth with him and this emotional arc, and that's why he never got to the place where the grabber got to, whatever his name ends up being. So it'd be fascinating to see the parallels between them and where it led to one and where, you know,

Starting point is 00:25:32 the other one got to with Finney's characters. So you could go that route. know you know there's a lot smarter writers than me go a totally different route as well but uh anyways resonance z thank you for chiming in for your horror villains do you prefer a more grounded and realistic villain or a more fantastical and supernatural one great question how depends on the execution really um yeah i'm down for either it's funny because we just on the same day a little behind the scenes for you. We watched one of the

Starting point is 00:26:05 Terrifier movies in Black Phone in the same day. Two very different kinds of villains, even though they're both murderers, but the way they were executed were vastly different. And I thoroughly, I enjoyed watching both of them. I thoroughly enjoyed watching

Starting point is 00:26:21 both of them. Yeah. And I think that they had two very different takes. Obviously, one is based in hyperviolent and in an element of supernatural, and this one is a lot of implied violence and a lot of just aura, as the kids say, with Ethan Hawks, the grabber. So it really depends because both sides do it very well, but, you know, I feel like I would sooner, I would sooner watch Blackphone again than watching one of the terrifiers. Yeah, I don't have never seen the terrifier moves.

Starting point is 00:26:52 I will never watch the tariffire moves. Oh, come on. Nope, I'm good. Start the petition, people. I'm with Aaron, though. Change. It's all about how you execute and how you watch them execute people, I guess, too, right? But, yeah, I'm...

Starting point is 00:27:06 Look, Freddy Kruger is probably my favorite villain of all time, and we know that, obviously, I don't know if this is a spoiler, but he's a supernatural villain. I think you knew that. I think that's... Okay, okay, okay, okay, so he's got a sweater. He's my favorite, yeah, he's my favorite personality reasons, I'll leave it at that, so I don't spoil Aaron too much. But also, like, before the supernatural stuff, like, there's a lot of grounded realism there with his character. So, I mean, and also, like, Michael Myers,

Starting point is 00:27:36 there's times where there's grounded realism and supernatural shit, too. I mean, it just depends on, like, this character, again, I think, like, there's a lot of chilling and creepy things that he is doing in his performance. And, again, without the actual, like, violence, aside for Max, obviously, we know he took out children as well, but we didn't see it. So, again, I think, like Aaron said, it just all depends on execution and how you write the character.

Starting point is 00:28:02 So I'm always for just a great written villain. It doesn't matter either or. Yeah, I mean, I love, one of the things I love most about horror is that it is a very broad genre with a lot of subcategories. And, yeah, I like both. I think a realistic villain is more likely to scare me in some kind of real way or, or, make me walk around kind of on edge rather than a supernatural one but I love both traditions and it just depends

Starting point is 00:28:32 on what the movie calls for and you know how they execute it so yeah both are great thank you so much oh Jay Rushman what a do this movie does this movie kind remind of other scary movies

Starting point is 00:28:48 trivia back in past we used to we used black play phones mostly in airports in urban cities Hey, Jay, what's your favorite scary movie? Does it remind me of other scary movies? I mean, you got a kid trapped downstairs in, like, a cellar. I mean, it definitely feels like Stephen King's stuff.

Starting point is 00:29:10 Yeah, I would say it. As mentioned before. In a way. It has that sort of... Aside from the floating. Well, it has something that a lot of Stephen King stories have, which is it has, like, your supernatural motif, perhaps, but it also has, like, a coming-of-age quality, and it feels like...

Starting point is 00:29:26 some kind of small New Englandy town. So and it did, I mean, the same creative team, it felt somewhat like sinister in tone without as much of a heavy supernatural element.

Starting point is 00:29:39 There were parts that reminded me for sure of Freddie Kruger. I won't go into the details again to spare Aaron here. I don't think you could go into any details that are really going to ruin anything. No, but I'm just, I'm just... It's all good. It's all good.

Starting point is 00:29:53 The spring would slash this. I appreciate the The Springwood Slasher, you know, I'll just leave it at that. I'll say that before. That's not a spoiler. You're good. Okay. You won't remember by the time you ever see these movies.

Starting point is 00:30:06 Maybe me and Coya watch, but I don't know if Coy... We are so late in almost to Halloween. My guess is you'll probably watch them for sure next year. Yeah. So I would say if you remember Springwood Slasher by then and you consider that a spoiler, my bad. What about you? Does this film remind you of any... Oh, what was that movie called?

Starting point is 00:30:25 the i can't remember sorry go ahead it's killing me because it's like i i know that in my database of films there has to be another movie where it's about somebody who's being held captive and then it's about them trying to escape but for the life of me i can't remember a single one but you know it's my my memory tells me it's reminding me of something but i can't think it was a single example but uh i thoroughly enjoyed it and aaron is going to comment on this video one day yes he will let you know When Black Front 2 comes out. Yes.

Starting point is 00:30:57 Thank you, Jay Rushden, for the question. We appreciate you. Wow. Actually, we will do a trivia really quick. Quickly after this. But last question. From Clayton Crook. Thank you so much for the question.

Starting point is 00:31:07 We appreciate you, Clayton. Other than this, any other Ethan Hawk performance worth watching, I think the only two things I can remember him being is in Persian Moon Night of all things. Yeah, one of my favorite Robin Williams films. Oh, Captain, my Captain, directed by Peter Weir in 1988, the year after Robocop, which Kurt Wood Smith was in. Dead Poets Society. I would say Ethan Hawk really came of age in that film.

Starting point is 00:31:29 His performance is phenomenal as Todd. He stood out to me pretty much over all the other kids in that film. He was incredible. I would say go watch Ethan Hawk in that film if you haven't. So, yeah, Dead Poet Society. What about you guys? And Training Day, if you haven't seen that. Oh, yeah.

Starting point is 00:31:46 Go check out a reaction to that as well. One of my favorite trilogies in all of cinemas is the before trilogy. Yeah, I think we share that. Yeah, we can join to answer before sunrise, sunset, and before midnight, all three are so lovely, so beautiful. Okay, I have to watch it. But to shout out a couple others, I think he's really lovely in boyhood. I think his vibe in that movie is so wonderful and so lived in. There's a sci-fi movie that he stars opposite Sarah Snook in called Predestination, that I think is sick.

Starting point is 00:32:19 Gattaca's good, too. I like Gattaca. I saw that in high school, but I don't remember it. I just know his ex-wife was in it with him. I think he's good and sinister, and I would say, too, it's not one of his best performances necessarily, but I just want to shout out the movie Daybreakers because I think that's a pretty sick take on a vampire story

Starting point is 00:32:36 that stars Ethan Huck as well as some other people. But, yeah, it's hard to beat the Before Trilogy. Mr. Erroron? No, I'm looking at his... He's looking at his IMDB. Filmogs, you're doing what I did. I've got to make sure I know every movie, so I pick the right answers for me.

Starting point is 00:32:51 This is my filmography, guys. Okay. Boyhood. I don't even remember him in that Total Recall movie. I really liked you in the Avengers sketchread. He was in the Colin Farrell Total Recall? I guess so. I still haven't seen it. He's in the Northman. That's crazy.

Starting point is 00:33:04 Yeah, he is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember him in that. Oh, I liked him in that movie. He's on an episode of Reservation Dogs, too. Let's go. He's done so much stuff. I mean, he's terrific everywhere he goes, pretty much.

Starting point is 00:33:15 I need to watch more of his discography. Wow. His discography. He's got some music out there probably. He must have some music out there. He seems like he was. I love his daughter on Strangewood. thing. She's amazing. She's got music too.

Starting point is 00:33:25 Robin, right? Robin. Maya Hawke plays Robin. She's very good. She is an incredible character. Yeah, before movies are great. They're so natural and they're just full on

Starting point is 00:33:38 conversation pieces and beautiful locations and, yeah, I don't spoil it for Andrew, but yeah, very very good. But Freddie Kruger does show up. This is true. Yeah. The third act. Thank you. I will. Before sunrise, Freddie Krueger's

Starting point is 00:33:52 get-cha is with the full title. One, two, Johnny's coming for you. Thank you, John. All right, thank you, Clayton. Last thing here, it's a trivia from Kev B. Thank you, Kev. We appreciate it. As a kid, Scott Derrickson dreamed of being trapped and receiving urgent

Starting point is 00:34:08 mysterious phone calls that offered hope and cryptic guidance. That's cool. That's fascinating. You know what that is fascinating, but that also reminds me a little of West Craven, but he didn't have a dream. He saw a man across the street that was wearing the Freddy sweater

Starting point is 00:34:24 and really scared the crap out of him and I think he was a homeless man and I believe that's how he got the inspiration for Nightmare in Elmstree if I'm wrong of course you guys can correct me in the comments section so it's interesting when of course James Cameron had a nightmare vision and then he saw in this nightmare when

Starting point is 00:34:40 I think he was in Paris he was really broke at the time and the Terminator rose out of the fire and you know you saw that in the film towards the end of the first one in 84 so it's interesting how a lot of these directors either come up with something they see in a real vision or in a dream and then that's inspiration for their film

Starting point is 00:34:56 I love that. Well, it makes me wonder what the interplay was with the book. How much is parallel to what was written in Joe Hill's book or, you know, what they collaborated on in adapting this. Yeah. Do we know how many books that there are for the Black Phone? I think it might be just the one.

Starting point is 00:35:12 Okay, so the second one totally original. Couldn't tell you. I don't even know what the second one's about. I don't want to know. Oh, honey, I'm not even going to read the comments on this thing. It's like Ethan Hawkins in or if he's not in it. don't know, and I want to go in completely blind. Absolutely. But yeah, this was really good.

Starting point is 00:35:28 This was really well done, really conscientious. It had a great sense of tone, and it was really permeating. You really felt the kind of paranoid, desolate, lonely kind of anguish that everything had. It's a short story, apparently, the Black Phone, as written by Joe Hill, so I imagine they expanded it together. And, yeah, just like a lot of really nice down-to-earth characterization, great performance. It shouts out, too, to Jeremy Davies, who played Terrence, the dad. He was great. He was like, that's a role that is so thankless and could easily be just, especially

Starting point is 00:36:02 in a Stephen King adjacent thing. One trope of King is like, you know, sometimes, yeah, sometimes parents or bullies can be, like, ridiculously awful. And this guy was like, yeah, he did some real bad things, but you also really understood the tragedy of who he was as a person. And, like, yeah, that really stood out amongst a bunch of other standout stuff. And the music, too. I thought the music was really nice.

Starting point is 00:36:24 Oh, yeah, the synthetics that they were, the composer was doing. It's fantastic. It really made you feel that, dude, and they really visually captured 1978. I was like, watching Halloween 78 from the visual cues. It was awesome. It really took me back to that time. It really, like, the aesthetics and the costume design. But you say it was a short story, so I got to imagine if Peter Jackson directed,

Starting point is 00:36:44 this would have been a three, you know, three-part film. Oh, they're getting there, don't worry. Black phone three is around the corner. Yeah, no doubt. Aaron, any final? No, this was great, and I look forward to reacting to the second. Agreed. Very well said. Scott Derrickson, everyone who worked on this, great job. This is one of my favorite horror films in recent time.

Starting point is 00:37:04 Great job. Ethan Hawke, terrific performance. Everyone who was in this, really terrific performances, so this is what horror films should be like. Anyways, guys, thank you so much if you stuck around with us. Let us know what you thought of this film. Is this one of your favorite horror films in recent times? Are you excited to see the reaction for the second? film what did you think about the second one obviously no spoilers because just in case either of them check out the comments we don't want to know what is going on i'm not going to be there but take care be safe and answer that black phone if you are in a dark mysterious place take care dosus

The Reel Rejects - THE BLACK PHONE (2021) IS ABSOLUTELY CHILLING!! MOVIE REVIEW!!

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