The Black Phone
Never talk to strangers.
The Black Phone (2022)
Production
Budget
$16 000 000
Revenue
$161 440 742
Director
Scenario
Joe Hill
Author
Composer
Producer
Actors
Mason Thames
Finney
Madeleine McGraw
Gwen
Ethan Hawke
The Grabber
Jeremy Davies
Terrence
E. Roger Mitchell
Detective Wright
Troy Rudeseal
Detective Miller
Miguel Cazarez Mora
Robin
Tristan Pravong
Bruce
Short description
The Black Phone is a horror thriller set in a Colorado suburb in the late 1970s. Teenage boys have been disappearing from the area, but thirteen-year-old Finney Shaw is preoccupied with smaller troubles, such as avoiding school bullies and his volatile father. His only real ally is his younger sister, Gwen. Then a masked man known as the Grabber abducts Finney and locks him in a soundproof basement, where shouting for help achieves nothing. A disconnected telephone on the wall begins to ring, and through it Finney hears the voices of the killer's earlier victims, who are determined that he will not share their fate.
Scott Derrickson directed and co-wrote the film with C. Robert Cargill; both also produced it alongside Jason Blum, and the three previously collaborated on Sinister. It was Derrickson's seventh feature as director, arriving after Doctor Strange. Mason Thames plays Finney and Madeleine McGraw plays Gwen, with Ethan Hawke as the Grabber.
Made for a modest budget, the film became a substantial commercial success, returning roughly ten times its production cost worldwide. On IMDb it holds a 6.9 rating from around 261,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 7.5 from about 6,000 votes, and critics rated it 7 out of 10 across some 272 reviews. A sequel followed in 2025.
What's left behind the scenes
- The newspaper boy is a reference to Johnny Gosch, a newspaper carrier from Iowa who once disappeared with his dog, Gretchen, while delivering papers. The dog was later found, but the child’s disappearance remains unsolved.
- The image of Grabber reflects the serial killers Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and Jeffrey Dahmer. Bundy lured victims with requests to help him with his car, Gacy used a belt, and one of Dahmer's victims managed to escape but failed to hide.
- After reading the script, producer Jason Blum sent Scott Derrickson a black phone as a gift. Derrickson had just moved into a new house, and Blum arranged for the black phone to be hung on the wall in the basement.
- According to Scott Derrickson, filming the special effect of an axe hitting the head proved very difficult. Derrickson even turned to the history of cinema, but couldn't find any instances there of showing how an axe enters a person's head.
- One version of the ending involved the ghosts of the children returning at the moment when Mason Thames' character kills Grabber.
- Scott Derrickson called Ethan Hawke his favorite actor. He had to put in a lot of effort to convince Hawke to star in his horror film "Sinister." Hawke refused, as he doesn't like horror films. Derrickson managed to convince the actor that filming horror movies is fun. He had to convince Hawke again to agree to filming "The Black Phone." Hawke read the script, then called Derrickson back and left him a message on his voicemail in the voice of The Grabber.
- Scott Derrickson himself experienced events that caused genuine fear and horror – they were connected to serial killer Ted Bundy, the murder of a neighbor of the Derrickson family, and one of the members of the Mason gang. Derrickson later said that fear was a feeling he had become accustomed to associating with his own childhood.
- Scott Derrickson called Ethan Hawke his favorite actor of all time. He once had to put in a lot of effort to convince Hawke to star in his horror film *Sinister* (2012) – and Hawke initially refused on the grounds that he didn’t watch and simply didn’t like horror movies. Derrickson managed to convince the actor that filming horror movies was actually fun. He had to convince Hawke again to agree to star in *The Black Phone*. Hawke read the script, then called Derrickson back and left him a voicemail message in the voice of the Grabber. That’s when the director realized that Hawke was on board.
- Initially, Madeleine McGraw refused to work with Scott Derrickson because filming conflicted with her schedule on the series "Secrets of Sulphur Springs" (2021), but Derrickson delayed filming his own movie until the actress became available.
- Grabber's masks were created by special effects artist Tom Savini. Mason Thames said that, combined with Ethan Hawke's performance, the mask terrified him when he first saw it.
- According to Scott Derrickson, filming the special effect of the axe blow to the head proved very difficult. Derrickson even turned to film history, but couldn’t find any examples of how an axe enters a person’s head on impact. Eventually, the special effect was achieved through a combination of props and visual effects.
- The basement set was built on a slightly more than one-meter-high elevation to allow for digging.
- After reading the script for the future film, executive producer Jason Blum from “Bloomhouse Productions” sent Scott Derrickson a black phone as a gift, and the project was approved. Derrickson had just moved into a new house, and Blum arranged for the black phone to be hung on the wall in the basement.
- Initially, Madeleine McGraw refused to participate due to scheduling conflicts, and Derrickson changed the shooting schedule for her.
- The script's ending had to be rewritten a couple of times – the filmmakers wanted to find the optimal solution. One of the options considered involved the ghosts of the children returning at the moment when Mason Thames’s character kills the Grabber. Ultimately, however, Derrickson decided that a phone call was the best solution.
- In a 2004 story by Joe Hill, one of the screenwriters, the Grabber is a clown, but Hill himself suggested making him a magician in the film. Early script drafts stated that the Grabber’s masks were made of leather – either smiling or frowning – but screenwriter Scott Derrickson understood that the masks would be central to the advertising campaign and merchandise sales, so he devoted a lot of time and effort to creating a recognizable image (referring to the mask).
- Throughout the film, the Grabber wears different masks, and each one reveals a new part of his face. The masks in the film are the work of legendary artist and special effects artist Tom Savini. Mason Thames later said that, combined with Ethan Hawke’s performance, the mask scared him terribly when he first saw it.
- The newspaper boy is a reference to Johnny Gosch – a newspaper carrier from Iowa who disappeared with his dog on September 5, 1982. The dog was later found, but the disappearance of the child remained unsolved.
- In Joe Hill's story, Grabber is a clown, but Hill suggested making him a magician in the film.
- It took 6 weeks to write the screenplay. Filming took 33 days.
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