Rushed and badly cast The Black Phone has a solid premise, interesting settings and some of the groundsworks of a more than half-decent plot. Sadly, a fairly short runtime and a bad main cast prevents it reaching but a sliver of its full potential.
One of my greatest problems with the film is that I'm unable to care for our main protagonist, Finney. This is odd, since I always root for the bullied child, but with Mason Thames portraying Finney I find this highly difficult. His performance is awkward at best, never showing any of the emotions expected from a human being, making any sense of connection to his character near impossible.
The film's main antagonist, The Grabber, played by Ethan Hawke, isn't much better. Being a supposed serial killer, I should feel some kind of dread when he's on the screen. But I never do. Instead, I do my best not to laught. A part of the problem could be Thames and his non-acting in their shared scenes, but an actor of Hawke's calibre should be able to make it work anyway. As is, I feel that Hawke crumbles behind the mask he is forced to wear.
Outside if the main cast, other characters are slightly more interesting, with Finney's sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) being the true highligh of the film. Sadly her screen time isn't enough to make me feel anything but underwhelmed when the end credits roll.