The phone is dead. And it's ringing.
So reads the tagline for "The Black Phone," Scott Derrickson's haunting adaptation of Joe Hill's short story. The script, which Derrickson co-wrote with his producing partner Robert Cargill, stars Ethan Hawke as The Grabber, a sadistic kidnapper who stalks young boys in suburban Denver in the 1970s.
Hill, the son of horror maestro Stephen King, deftly blends several horror tropes (ghosts, invisible killers, clairvoyance and other supernatural elements) in his telling of the story, which centers around Finney (Mason Thames), an introverted 13-year-old who becomes The Grabber's latest victim.
