The Black Phone

The Black Phone
A man with a white painted face wears a black top hat, glasses, the bottom half of a white mask with an exaggerated smile, a red turtleneck sweater, and a black jacket; the poster is tinted in film grain.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byScott Derrickson
Screenplay by
Based on"The Black Phone"
by Joe Hill
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyBrett Jutkiewicz
Edited byFrédéric Thoraval
Music byMark Korven
Production
companies
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release dates
  • September 25, 2021 (2021-09-25) (Fantastic Fest)
  • June 24, 2022 (2022-06-24) (United States)
Running time
103 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$16–18 million
Box office$161.4 million

The Black Phone is a 2021 American supernatural horror film[3] directed by Scott Derrickson, and written by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill. It stars Mason Thames as Finney, a teenage boy abducted by a serial child killer known colloquially as The Grabber (Ethan Hawke). When Finney encounters a mystical black rotary phone in captivity, he uses it to plot his escape by communicating with the ghosts of The Grabber's slain victims. Madeleine McGraw, Jeremy Davies, and James Ransone also feature in the principal cast. Derrickson and Cargill produced The Black Phone in association with Blumhouse Productions CEO Jason Blum. Universal Pictures oversaw the film's commercial distribution, and funding was sourced through a Universal–Blumhouse co-production pact and tax subsidies from the North Carolina state government.

The idea of The Black Phone arose from Derrickson and Cargill's adaptation of Joe Hill's short story of the same name. Derrickson struggled to produce additional ideas that supplemented the short story, shifting his attention to other filmmaking endeavors. The film remained dormant until he resigned from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) over creative differences. Derrickson used his childhood experiences in suburban Denver, Colorado, to develop The Black Phone story. Principal photography began in February 2021 on a $16–18 million budget, and wrapped the following month. Shooting took place on sets and on location in Wilmington, North Carolina. Mark Korven composed the film's score, which drew on modern and vintage synthesizer sounds.

The Black Phone premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 25, 2021, and opened in US theaters after several delays on June 24, 2022. It was an unexpected hit at the box office and finished its theatrical run grossing $161.4 million globally. The film received generally positive reviews from the critics, who praised its performances but were divided on its concept. The success of The Black Phone spawned the in-canon short film "Dreamkill", also directed by Derrickson and written by him and Cargill, released in 2023 as part of the anthology film V/H/S/85; a sequel is scheduled for release on October 17, 2025.

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference DHsequel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "The Black Phone (15)". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on June 24, 2022. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
  3. ^ Catsoulis, Jeannette (June 23, 2022). "The Black Phone Review: The Dead Have Your Number". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 10, 2022. Retrieved August 1, 2022.