Because Scott Derrickson is a distinctive name to lovers of contemporary horror movies, The Black Phone generated a lot of attention among them even before it was released. Now that it is here, we can conclude that the hype has been realized.
It is a masterfully created horror-thriller with a strong 80s influence. Let us dive right into it without wasting any time and bring you everything from the in-depth narrative to the psychotic serial killer who preys on children!
The story explored in detail and the ending explained! (Spoiler Alert)
The movie is premised in North Denver and the year is 1978. You immediately notice the subtle change of the color palette that captures the best of the time, and the costumes and props are handled accordingly. We are introduced to a bunch of kids, and Finney is our protagonist, a sharp and shy 13-year-old boy, who is certainly very mature for his age. Before the story even starts to spook you, the director does the trick with a haunting, screechy background score as the music for the opening title.
It sets the tone perfectly, and you get to prepare yourself for something terrible about to happen – and it does, very quickly. After a baseball game that Finney loses, we see the first sight of the Grabber, who roams around in a black van and kidnaps children. One of the players, a kid named Bruce, is abducted, and Finney and Gwen seem to be quite awestruck and stunned by the events of several kidnappings that have taken place in the recent past.
Finney doesn’t really have too many friends and often gets picked on and bullied in school. However, his sister Gwen is always by his side. Their adorable relationship is heart-warming, to say the least, and you immediately start feeling for the kids.
They don’t have the best of personal life, with an alcoholic widower father, who doesn’t shy away from beating them up. Back in school, we are introduced to someone standing up to the bullies for Finney, a tall and strong guy named Robin. He tells Finney that he will eventually have to stand up for himself, and we see a nice bond develop between them. Robin seeks help in studies, and in return he protects Finney from the bad guys, which seems like a wonderful deal for Finney!
The friendship doesn’t last long, however, because the Grabber strikes again and this time he takes Robin. We realize that this guy means business because the kidnapped young fellow was among the strongest kids who could beat up the meanest of bullies. Meanwhile, we get to know more about Gwen, who seems to have certain psychic powers, and she dreams about some of the kidnappings. It isn’t very clear at first, but even then some of the things that she watches and talks about attract the attention of the detectives on the case.
Detective Miller and Detective Wright visit her to understand, how she got to know about certain facts of the kidnapping cases that they never released officially. Her answer doesn’t really satisfy them, but a fiercely outspoken Gwen doesn’t take to their interrogation very kindly. It is a hilarious moment to see a young girl badmouth the cops for being silly enough to question her over the crimes.
The brother-sister bond is one of the highlights of the initial moments of the film. They stand up for each other, and they are clearly each other’s best pals. Thus, Gwen’s world is rocked when she learns that her brother Finney has been kidnapped as well. It all happened when Gwen visited her friend’s house for a sleepover, and Finney was walking home alone. He encountered the van, and the Grabber pretended to be a magician who dropped his things while exiting the car.
Just as Finney got closer to help him, he grabbed him and drugged him in a flash. He wakes up in a tiny basement, where we get a clear look at the kidnapper, a mask-wearing psycho who sounds quite a bit like the Joker played by Heath Ledger. His mannerisms are just as spooky as his actions, and clearly, he is not in the right frame of mind!
The dark basement is also soundproof, and even if Finney screams his lungs out, no one will be able to hear him! The shy kid who always backs out of fights is now in a situation that will require the best of his guts and fighting spirit to get out of! The only notable item in the basement is an old black phone, which seems disconnected and non-functional. The Grabber confirms our thoughts and reveals that the phone has been there for ages, and it doesn’t work for a long time now. However, just as Finney seems to give up all hope, he hears the phone ring.
Surprised and shocked, he picks it up, and it is one of the kidnapped kids on the other side. The kid on the phone cannot remember his name, but some of the catchphrases that he can recall, confirm for Finney that the caller is Bruce. He instructs Finney to dig through the floor, where a tile is loose, and if he keeps removing the dirt and continues digging, he might create a tunnel wide enough for him to escape!
Meanwhile, the killer brings some food for Finney, and while leaving he purposely leaves the basement door open. Just as Finney is about to get out of the door, the phone rings again. This time it is another of the kidnapped kids named Billy. He advises him against stepping out of the door because it is simply a trap set by the Grabber.
Basically, the demented kidnapper needs an excuse to punish Finney, and disobeying him and trying to escape would provide him with the perfect opportunity. Billy warns him that the Grabber will beat him black and blue if he tries to step out, and Finney actually walks out of the door quietly and realizes that Billy wasn’t lying! The kidnapper is shown sitting with a belt in his hand – a creepy sight with his peculiar mask.
It seems like he never appears without his mask on! Something strange is happening in this basement, but these forces are obviously trying to help Finney get out of his captivity. The next call tells Finney about a cable that has been hidden in the room, and it could be used to knock out the bathroom window to get out. The plan doesn’t work, but it does provide the viewer with a good five minutes of hope as Finney tries his best with his weak hands. The window simply ends up being too sturdy, and he only manages to remove the grill without being able to get up to escape.
Back home, Gwen has another of her dreams, and this time things are a bit clearer than usual. He watches the kidnapping of Billy, and gets the first clear sight of the Grabber. She is devastated by the loss of her brother, and she tries her best to dream voluntarily. She believes that if she can get a quick glimpse of her brother trapped by the Grabber, it will help the cops solve the case.
We learn about her mother, who was a psychic herself, but couldn’t really handle her abilities. She would see things and eventually, the matter got way too out of hand and she killed herself. Gwen has clearly inherited the psychic abilities of her mother, but it remains to be seen how effectively she can use these powers! She does have a dream about Finney’s cries for help, but it is simply not detailed enough to help the cause!
The investigation continues, and the police end up interrogating a cocaine-addict named Max, who seems to be equally interested about the case. He tries to offer his help to the detectives, and it is a hilarious moment as the cops realize that the fellow is not going to be of any help at all! Then comes the big twist – the camera pans to the basement of the same house, and there is Finney, locked up in the tiny room! Are Max and the Grabber the same person? Well, they certainly sound very different, but what else can be a probable explanation!
The black phone rings again, and this time it is a kid named Griffin. He warns Finney that time is running out for him because the kidnapper is getting restless. He is not being a naughty boy, and this is giving the Grabber no excuse to beat him up mercilessly. The caller also tells Finney about the combination lock on the door outside, and reveals that the Grabber fell asleep while waiting for Finney to make an escape attempt.
Finney wastes no time in planning a gutsy getaway, and the viewers are in for a nail-biting moment, where he sneaks past the kidnapper sleeping on his chair. He sneakily uses the combination lock correctly, and gets out of the door! Is it freedom for Finney? Well, not quite because the Grabber is in pursuit and Finney can only run a few paces before he grabs the kid again. He comes agonizingly close to escaping the clutches of the twisted psychopath, but the plan fails and now, Finney has disobeyed the orders of the Grabber!
The next caller is a guy named Vance, who is a bit harsh and rude, but he does have a nice idea for Finney. He advises the kid to use the flush-head to break a weak part of the wall. The other side of the wall has a freezer, and he can escape through that. Again, the plan fails because the freezer is locked on the other side, and slowly, Finney starts to resign to his fate. However, his best friend Robin, the last guy kidnapped by the Grabber, calls just in time. He restores some confidence and requests Finney to trust himself to win the fight against the psycho. He instructs how the phone receiver can be used as a handy weapon if filled with dirt, and Finney prepares himself for a final showdown.
Gwen’s dreams are becoming clearer and more vivid, and finally, she comes across the house in her dreams while cycling. She informs the detectives, who by now have started believing that there is something special about Gwen’s powers. Meanwhile, it finally occurs to Max that his own brother might be behind the series of missing kids in town. He finally sneaks into the basement, but the coke-head finds Finney a little too late! His brother is back, and Max gets an ax in his head! It also becomes clear that Max was the kidnapper’s elder brother, but he was completely clueless about his brother’s actions.
When Finney is cornered by the Grabber, in a desperate act of fighting back, Finney uses the phone to knock him out. He had set an elaborate trap for the Grabber, and he fell into a pit breaking his ankle, while Finney got the chance to put an end to him for good!
The police get there as well, and it all boils down to the perfect climax. Finney comes out as a hero, who killed the Grabber, and it is revealed that there were two houses on opposite sides of the road. One of them was used to bury the dead bodies of the previously kidnapped children, while Finney was kept in the basement of the other, with clueless Max not having the slightest idea! Back in school, Finney gets a gallant welcome, and the shy, cowardly kid is suddenly the talk of the school for his heroics!
The Grabber will go down as one of the creepiest!
Yes, this might sound like an overstatement, considering the number of unbelievably good horror villains that we have. However, the Grabber played by veteran actor Ethan Hawke, steals the show with his perfect act. He is the unpredictable psychopath that you will be wary of, and his mask certainly adds to his spooky appearance. The story suggests that the Grabber can hear the phone ring, but he doesn’t think much of it. His actions are hardly rational, and it seems like he is simply satisfying some twisted pleasure by kidnapping and eventually killing these kids.
Why does he keep wearing the mask? Well, we have an explanation for this, which might sound logical enough! Maybe, the Grabber cannot come to terms with the fact that he is a serial killer. His subconscious doesn’t allow him to live freely, knowing that he has killed all these children.
Thus, he hides his face under the mask, maybe in an attempt to conceal his identity for himself, or simply to not admit to the fact that he is pure evil. That would also explain why he kept ignoring the black phone for all this while. Maybe, it was a part of his psyche, where his horrifying acts haunt him deep down. He chooses to ignore it blissfully, just like he intends to reject the acceptance of his acts. The mask looks grotesque and scary, but it also symbolizes the terrible things done by the kidnapper!
Finally, the cord of the black phone is used by Finney to strangle him to death, and it is almost a fitting end, where his karma catches up. The cumulative will of those who were killed eventually powered Finney to escape from the confines of the basement and also get revenge for them. They clearly orchestrated the whole thing, and vengeance comes with a sweet touch of good news, where Finney and Gwen are reunited.
What caused the Grabber to snap?
If there is one thing we would love to change about the movie, it would be the half-baked backstory of the Grabber! Yes, the director wanted to keep the viewers guessing, but we never really get to know what really drove him to kidnap and slaughter the young fellows.
However, based on what we see, there can be a few possibilities. Firstly, the Grabber doesn’t seem to have a proper family life. He lives alone, and although his brother resides in the house, they obviously have some distinct boundaries. The differences between them were so much that Max never knew what his brother was up to until the very end of the movie! The dysfunctional family life and the solitude probably got to him, and he took it out on the kids.
There might well be an abusive parent story here. We have seen that Finney and Gwen’s father was quite abusive, and maybe, the Grabber had a similar issue while growing up. This probably fuelled his resentment towards humanity and made him do unspeakable things. Back in the 70s and 80s we did hear about such real-life incidents, and the whole possibilities aspect makes things more haunting! It will be a horror villain to remember, we promise!
What if there were no spirits at all?
This is a possibility that did occur to us while watching the movie! What if, Finney was hallucinating the whole time about the calls and the sights that he saw? He is shown to be a shy and cowardly kid, and it would take something special to inspire him to fight it out with a ruthless serial killer. Thus, the calls were simply imaginary and created by his subconscious to offer him support to fight back.
It is shown that he was poorly fed and being locked up in a dark basement can play a few tricks on the mind! He could have discovered the loose tile or the piece of cable all by himself, and the combination lock could simply be a stroke of luck, or something he knew beforehand!
It is fun to view the story from this perspective as well because then, it is just an inspirational tale of a young kid fighting back to survive – a force of pure goodness fighting the worst form of evil. However, there is simply no denying Gwen’s psychic powers! These led the police to the killer’s house, and there is no way for that to happen simply by the power of her love for her brother!
Marvelous Verdict: A grim, yet satisfying horror flick!
Those who have watched movies like The Exorcism of Emily Rose or Sinister, are well-aware of the darkness that Scott Derrickson can create. He is certainly a master of his trade, and The Black Phone is yet another terrifying addition to his legacy. The late 1970s sets are perfectly handled, and you will enjoy a few pop-culture references, such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Enter the Dragon!
The director puts together a truly haunting premise, and the Grabber is one of Ethan Hawke’s best performances of all time. He is the perfect psycho, and you don’t doubt his demented ambitions for one second. The character might be mildly inspired by Heath Ledger’s Joker – the laugh, the tone, and the overall unpredictable mannerisms, all add to the creepy nature of the perfect horror villain.
In this particular instance, the supernatural forces are not necessarily evil, and this bit will remind you of The Sixth Sense. In fact, the protagonist, Finney, will remind you of the young boy in The Sixth Sense, for his sheer maturity. The child actors, Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw have matched steps with legends like Ethan Hawke. Be it the emotional moments, be it tugging at your heart-strings with their tragedies, or be it through their adorable bonding, the chemistry of the brother-sister duo has been phenomenal.
If you think that the movie is all about good vs. evil, with a straightforward narrative, you wouldn’t be too wrong, but make no mistake, there are a few heart-stopping moments! These terrifying moments will make you jump in your seats, even though it is not an evil-spirit oriented conventional horror flick. It seems like leaving Multiverse of Madness over creative differences did Scott Derrickson a lot of good, and he is back with a bang with a thought-provoking, entertaining horror film that you will remember for a long time.
So, what are you waiting for? Watch the movie and enjoy a taste of modern horror served in old-school style! Do let us know in the comments below about your thoughts on the movie, and also tell us what you think of Ethan Hawke’s incredible performance!