The Black Phone Review: 6 Ups & 4 Downs

4. The Strong Period Detail

With The Black Phone being set in 1970s Colorado, it's reasonable to expect a certain degree of period detail, and it's clear that Derrickson and his crew made great pains to recreate a distinctive era of suburban America.

Both in terms of its production and its story, The Black Phone evokes its time with persuasive skill.

The production design of the few locations featured throughout - namely the homes belonging to both the siblings and the Grabber - lean hard into nostalgic period decor, as do the characters' wardrobes.

Yet the film feels most of this era in the bones of its script. Derrickson, who grew up as a child of the '70s himself, nails that paradoxically more permissive and terrifying past, where kids were left alone to play in the streets yet had no direct line of communication to their parents in the event of disaster.

The dialogue also convincingly nails the period without going overboard, placing the story firmly in a time and place as distinct as it feels otherworldly to us today.