The Black Phone (a quick review)

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a horror movie in the theaters. How long ago was that? The last one was The Woman in Black. Yep, I don’t get out much. So, when I got invited to see The Black Phone this past weekend, I figured “why not”. I’ve been hearing good things about it and the concept looked interesting.

Boy, am I glad I went.

The Black Phone is an indie film directed by Scott Derrickson (Sinister and Doctor Strange) that had a limited release in 2021 and finally got a wide release this year. The story takes place in 1978 and centers around a pair of siblings named Finney and Gwen Blake. Their small town lives in fear of an abductor called “The Grabber” who has been snatching young boys off the streets. The local police are frantic to find this kidnapper but there are no solid leads or clues indicating what happened to the victims.

One day, Finney is walking home alone when he is taken by The Grabber and thrown into a locked, soundproof basement. There’s seemingly no way to escape and very little inside the room except a mattress and a disconnected black phone mounted on the wall that The Grabber insists has never worked. However, the phone starts ringing when Finney is alone and the voices on the other end are not from this world.