A lean, effective supernatural kid-in-peril thriller with a strong central premise, creepy production design, and a memorable villain performance. It’s more tense and atmospheric than truly terrifying, but the emotional bond between the siblings gives it extra lift.
Finney Blake, a shy but clever 13-year-old boy, is abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of little use. When a disconnected phone on the wall begins to ring, Finney discovers that he can hear the voices of the killer’s previous victims. And they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney.
Director
Scott Derrickson
Cast
Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Ethan Hawke
Curator Review
Verdict
A lean, effective supernatural kid-in-peril thriller with a strong central premise, creepy production design, and a memorable villain performance. It’s more tense and atmospheric than truly terrifying, but the emotional bond between the siblings gives it extra lift.
Best for
Viewers who like horror with a coming-of-age angle
Fans of contained, high-concept thrillers
People who enjoy eerie 1970s-set atmosphere
Audiences who prefer suspense and character over gore
Skip if
You want relentless brutality or extreme horror
You dislike supernatural explanations in crime-horror stories
You need airtight plotting and logic
You’re looking for a very original twist on the abduction thriller
Overview
The Black Phone works best as a stripped-down nightmare with a strong emotional spine. Its basement setting, period detail, and ghostly phone calls create a simple but effective pressure cooker, while the sibling relationship keeps the movie from feeling purely mechanical. The result is a horror film that is often more anxious than shocking, and that restraint helps it land.
Worth noting
Scott Derrickson stages the material with clean, old-school genre confidence, and Ethan Hawke’s masked predator gives the film its most unsettling presence. The movie knows how to turn small details into dread: a ring, a mask, a hallway, a voice on the line. It’s not especially subtle, but it is efficient, and the atmosphere does a lot of the heavy lifting.
Bottom line
What keeps it from being a top-tier genre entry is that the story occasionally feels familiar and the mythology is a little too neat. Even so, the emotional payoff is solid, and the film’s mix of supernatural horror, kid resilience, and grim suburban menace makes it easy to recommend to viewers who want a polished crowd-pleaser with a dark edge.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Bryan Espitia (3★) · 21885 likes
If The Grabber had kidnapped Gwen instead the movie would have been over in like five minutes, she would absolutely demolish him with zero help
ZaraGwen (4★) · 18692 likes
I would have died so fast because I wouldn't've answered the phone
David Chen (4★) · 18485 likes
“Jesus? What the fuck.”
abbie (4★) · 16872 likes
they have ethan hawke sitting there shirtless with a belt in hand and i’m supposed to be scared?
Megan Bitchell (4★) · 13871 likes
I hope Finney goes home and beats the shit out of his dad
Themes
abduction, survival, supernatural communication, childhood resilience, sibling bond, trauma and fear, serial killer menace, suburban dread
Topics
horror, thriller, supernatural, kid-in-peril, serial killer, atmospheric, 1970s setting, suspense, coming-of-age, dark fantasy