Scott Derrickson's "The Black Phone" introduces the latest in a long line of iconic Universal Studios horror characters with the Grabber, a sadistic serial killer and part-time magician who wears a set of unsettlingly dynamic devil masks.
The brainchild of Derrickson, designer Tom Savini and fabricator Jason Baker, the masks convey three exaggerated expressions of the villain: joy, despair and utter nothingness in a haunting reinterpretation of the traditional comedy/tragedy masks.
Played by Ethan Hawke, the Grabber is a departure from many of the screen's most infamous masked killers in part due to his evolving masks, but also because of his loquacious demeanor. "If you look at Jason [Voorhees] or Michael Myers or Ghostface, they don't talk," said Derrickson. "The idea of this very chatty serial killer behind a mask was really interesting to me. I knew if we got that right, it could be all the more unnerving for it."
