RIFLE RANGE BOY: Energies calling for help?

The Black Phone (2021)
Director: Scott Derrickson

It was in the mid-70s that innocence was lost. Before this time, life on Earth was a peaceful one. Children could wander about without fear of being abducted. Ladies could go out unaccompanied. They would not end up as tomorrow's headline. And road rage was not a thing yet and be assured that Mat Rempit would not crash into your car in the dead of night, unannounced, as you scramble back home, following all the road rules, after a long day at the office.

It used to be serial killers, looneys, and UFOs only attacked America. Well, other nations have caught up too. The world is no longer a safe place. Mad people are everywhere, in every society. It is just a question of how competent the arm of the law is in that locality. With more money at their disposal, time and manpower can be put aside for that purpose. If day-to-day living is in peril, they just have to accept victims as collateral damage of changing times.

It is said that energies with unfulfilled ambitions roam around us as spirits causing 'disturbances'. Seances commonly describe them as entities yearning to fulfil their needs, not intending to scare or cause disharmony. In short, they are asking for help. We should not lose sleep over them. The correct people with sort them out.

This film is set in 1978 when 'Happy Days' was rave and bell bottoms were sweeping the world. Many schoolchildren go missing in a Denver suburb. Finney and Gwen, children of an alcoholic single father, see their schoolmates go missing one by one. Eventually, Finney gets abducted and is kept in a basement. The basement has the bare minimum but a wall telephone. The phone is a landline, but the problem is that the line is cut. The phone still rings, and Finney manages to talk to the abducted children who are dead. Meanwhile, Gwen is having vivid dreams about the abductions.

A forgettable movie which gives the vibe of the film 'It'.