Finney Shaw lives with an alcoholic father and his sister in a solemn life. School isn’t much better as Finney is bullied constantly. He doesn’t have many friends either. The ones he did have disappeared, for which he soon meets the same fate, waking up in a soundproof basement with nothing but a mattress and a disconnected black rotary-dial phone on the wall. It’s disconnected, but it still rings. On the other end are the previous victims of the man known as the Grabber. The children are dead, but their spirits linger to help Finney find a means of escaping. He doesn’t know how long he has, though, because the Grabber is slow to kill him. One wrong move may decide the rest of Finney’s life.

The Black Phone is a cautionary tale of why parents tell their kids not to talk to strangers. Based on a story by Joe Hill, the film is a story of maintaining hope and bravery when faced with the unimaginable. Although just a boy, Finney faces impending doom with the resolve of one who already confronts danger every day due to his abusive father. This resolve is more like sand in an hourglass because, with his father, he knows he’ll walk away bruised. With the Grabber, he knows punishment will be more final. 

His abductor is a man who flips from a mother’s kindness to the cold predations of something waiting for its prey to make the wrong move and satisfy his blood lust. The man the outside world sees is only briefly seen for a moment. The man seen for the duration of the film is the monster that all his victims came to know. The two are like cat and mouse. The cat is in control, but the mouse is always looking for a way of escaping, although hope is fleeting.

The acting of a film like this has to be great to revolve around children. Newcomer Mason Thames brings toughness and innocence to Finney that help ground the story. He’s easy to root for as he’s already been through so much that the audience believes he can survive this ordeal. His sister, Gwen, is played by Madeleine McGraw. Her character is similar to Mason’s in that she too has toughness. The viewer can feel their strength, making them believe that Finney just might have what it takes to survive his ordeal. Gwen’s role is different in that she can see visions of her brother and past victims, using them to try and rescue Finney. Her mother had the same clairvoyant abilities as her, but they are forcefully suppressed by her father, who sees them as the very curse that killed his wife.  

Ethan Hawke is as great as one might expect, so much so that perhaps he was always meant to play the role of a villain. He is a chilling presence on camera. With much of his face covered in a disturbing mask for most of the film, he is forced to rely on acting with just his voice, eyes, and half his face. Malice and cold delight come across well despite this, as should be expected from a veteran actor of his caliber. If this is Hawke’s only portrayal as the Grabber, then cinema is at a loss as it would be missing out on what could be the next great horror icon.