1978\u002Dset horror has deliberate pacing and fine performances all around
The year is 1978, and 13-year-old Finney is dealing with non-supernatural problems in North Denver, Colo. – sports, school bullies and a physically abusive alcoholic single dad. Fortunately, little sister Gwen has his back. She can swear like a sailor and fight like one too.
Alas, there are bigger problems on the horizon than little league and dustups. A serial kidnapper known as The Grabber has been stalking the neighbourhood, and Finney becomes his latest victim, imprisoned in a soundproof basement with little more than a mattress, a toilet and a boxy, wall-mounted telephone that doesn’t work any more.
Or does it? Finney hasn’t been in the basement long before the phone rings, and from the static on the line I’m guessing the caller is from way out of state. Maybe area code 666?Article content That’s pretty much the whole set up, and the genius of writer/director Scott Derrickson and co-writer C. Robert Cargill is that they keep the plot simple, while dangling a few key questions that will have you leaning forward, looking for clues.
Chief among the mysteries: What’s the deal with Gwen’s apparent second sight, so trusted by the police that they regularly call on her for crime-solving advice? Although I also have to say that detectives Wright and Miller are easily the movie’s least developed characters, looking like a couple ofAnyway, there’s a bit of humour, some nice use of and some delicate pacing that, among other things, gives us a solid 30 minutes to sink into the movie’s world before Finney meets Grabber.
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