The following article contains discussion of themes including murder that some readers may find upsetting.
The Black Phone is a tense new horror movie out now in cinemas if you fancy some dark chills as a break from the blockbuster thrills of Top Gun: Maverick.
Written and directed by Scott Derrickson, it reteams the filmmaker with Ethan Hawke for the first time since 2012's Sinister. Hawke stars as The Grabber, a child killer who kidnaps his next victim, Finney (Mason Thames), only for Finney to get some unexpected help from The Grabber's previous victims.
Given the supernatural element to The Black Phone, it won't be a surprise to know that it's not based on a true story. However, Derrickson has revealed that he was inspired by his own past.
"I grew up in an area of north Denver that was pretty violent, a lot of bullying, a lot of fighting, a lot of kids were bleeding all the time. It was also right after Ted Bundy had come through Colorado, killing people. And the Manson murders had just happened," he told news.com.au.
"When I was eight years old, my friend next door came knocking at my front door and said, 'Somebody murdered my mum'. The mother of my friend next door was murdered. And there was a lot of domestic violence, even in my own home and in the homes of a lot of these kids that I knew.
"Parents punished children much more aggressively, and so it was a very violent, scary kind of place to grow up in a lot of ways. And I tried to bring that environment realistically into the movie."
This comes across in Mason's story before he's taken by The Grabber as he, along with his sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), lives with an abusive father who is an alcoholic. In fact, for a large part of The Black Phone's first act, you'd be forgiven for thinking you walked into the wrong movie.
Derrickson takes his time to show the horrors of The Grabber with snatched glances and tales of missing children in the neighbourhood. The focus is on Mason and Gwen as they have to deal with their father and bullies at school.
The Grabber becomes more prominent once he kidnaps Mason, with the main story of The Black Phone coming from Joe Hill's short story of the same name, published as part of his 20th Century Ghosts collection in 2004.
Derrickson had optioned the story before, but it wasn't until he exited Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness that he decided to make it.
And when he came to blending his past with Hill's short story, it turned out that writing the movie with C Robert Cargill became an outlet for the filmmaker in coming to terms with his past.
"I felt that I had a lot of work at reckoning with aspects of my past and the impact it had on my life and who I was becoming as a person. It was rewarding to have a place to put back," he explained.
"A lot of the kids in the movie are based directly on kids that I knew."
The Black Phone is out now in cinemas.
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Ian Sandwell
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
FAQs
Given the supernatural element to The Black Phone, it won't be a surprise to know that it's not based on a true story. However, Derrickson revealed that he was inspired by his own past.
What is the story behind The Grabber? ›
Albert Shaw, better known as The Grabber, is the main antagonist of the 2021 supernatural horror film The Black Phone, which is based on the 2004 short story of the same name by Joe Hill from his 20th Century Ghosts collection. He is a serial child abductor and killer who preyed on the boys of a Denver suburb.
Is The Black Phone a ghost story? ›
The scary recent movie The Black Phone may be based on Joe Hill's story, but it's also inspired by true stories from the director and the '70s. The Black Phone was a hit horror feature film made by Blumhouse in 2022.
What movie was mentioned in The Black Phone? ›
Robin goes to the drive-in with his uncle, where he has seen R-rated films that most kids couldn't get to at the time. He specifically mentions The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Enter the Dragon and chides Finney for not having seen them yet.
Was The Grabber a real person? ›
Is The Grabber a real person? The Grabber is a fictional serial killer and an amateur magician who uncannily abducts his victims. He locks them in his soundproof basem*nt and toys with them by playing mind games where he asks them to escape. Eventually, when he's bored, he kills his victims.
What kids did The Grabber take? ›
Victims
- Griffin Stagg. Griffin Stagg was the The Grabber's first victim. ...
- Billy Showalter. Billy Showalter was The Grabber's second victim. ...
- Vance Hopper. Vance Hopper was The Grabber's third victim. ...
- Bruce Yamada. Bruce Yamada was The Grabber's fourth victim. ...
- Robin Arellano. ...
- Finney Blake. ...
- Max.
Ethan Hawke Was "Jacked" In The Black Phone
Derrickson also shared how Hawke suggested including a moment in the film where he would have his shirt off given his impressive physical fitness. Check out Derrickson's full quote below. "I didn't ask for him to be jacked -- he showed up that way!
Was it based on a true story? ›
Answer and Explanation: No, Stephen King's It is not based on a true story. King had the idea for It when looking at an old wooden walking bridge in 1978 near his home in Boulder, Colorado.
What killer inspired The Black Phone? ›
In the original short story version of The Black Phone, The Grabber is an overweight man who dresses as a clown. The clear inspiration for this character was the real serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who committed at least 33 murders in the 1970s.
Is Black based on a true story? ›
The media declared it as his "most personal film". Bhansali revealed that he was inspired by American activist Helen Keller's life story. However, he stated that he only used it as a reference and the film was "a completely original piece of work".
With the prospect of another franchise on its hands, Universal Studios and Blumhouse had announced that a sequel was set to arrive in theaters in June, 2025. However, with a calendar shuffle, The Black Phone 2 will be arriving in theaters on October 17, 2025.
What did The Grabber do to Billy? ›
At some point he fell into the Grabber's trap and left through the half-open door left by him, once up there, Billy was beaten until he passed out. Soon after, Billy was tortured and killed by him. After his death, his soul remained in the basem*nt of his captivity.
Why does The Grabber wear a mask? ›
While his mask is important to his identity, it doesn't exist to conceal it from others. Instead, The Grabber employs the mask as a sort of theater — the different Grabber mask variations each represent characters in a show he's putting on for himself and his victims.
Can a 13 year old watch The Black Phone? ›
Rated R for violence, bloody images, language and some drug use.
What person is The Black Phone based on? ›
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Hill explained that, although his story drew inspiration from real serial killers of the era, The Black Phone is not based on any actual case.
Is The Grabber Black Phone Based on a true story? ›
Is The Grabber based on a real serial killer? In the original short story version of The Black Phone, The Grabber is an overweight man who dresses as a clown. The clear inspiration for this character was the real serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who committed at least 33 murders in the 1970s.
Why did The Grabber not want to show his face? ›
Instead, The Grabber employs the mask as a sort of theater — the different Grabber mask variations each represent characters in a show he's putting on for himself and his victims. A few scenes in The Black Phone suggest yet another motivation for his mask: he uses it to hide from himself out of shame for his actions.
Why can The Grabber hear the phone? ›
The Grabber can hear the Black Phone ring because he's being haunted by his crimes and his victims, but there is never any indication that anyone else, aside from Finney, can hear it.
What did The Grabber do to Bruce? ›
as a child, he developed his love of baseball and his bond with his parents, before being kidnapped and murdered by The Grabber. Bruce also had a younger sister named Amy, who was a classmate of Finney's sister Gwen.
