40 Fun Facts About The Black Phone

Who directed The Black Phone?

Scott Derrickson directed The Black Phone and co-wrote it with C. Robert Cargill, his writing partner on earlier horror films, after leaving a Marvel sequel over creative differences.

The film is based on a 2004 short story by which author?

Joe Hill, author of Horns and NOS4A2, first published the story in 2004 and writes under a shortened form of his middle name, Hillström, to succeed on his own merits.

In which short-story collection did 'The Black Phone' first appear?

The story was collected in 20th Century Ghosts, the author's 2005 debut collection, which won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection.

Which actor plays the masked child-killer known as the Grabber?

Ethan Hawke plays the Grabber; long wary of villain roles for fear of typecasting, he was won over by the mask concept and his earlier collaboration with the director.

Who plays Finney Blake, in his film debut?

Mason Thames, previously seen on the TV series For All Mankind, makes his feature film debut as Finney Blake and later played Hiccup in the live-action How to Train Your Dragon.

Which actress plays Finney's psychic younger sister Gwen?

Madeleine McGraw plays Gwen, the psychic younger sister; she had starred in Disney Channel's Secrets of Sulphur Springs and voiced Bonnie in Toy Story 4.

In which year and city is the film set?

The film is set in 1978, North Denver; the director grew up there and drew on the everyday violence of his working-class neighbourhood.

How did Finney and Gwen's mother die?

The film says she died 'By suicide after disturbing psychic dreams': their father explains she heard and saw things, and he beats Gwen for fear her dreams lead the same way.

Which friend of Finney's fends off the school bullies before being abducted himself?

His final call from the phone tells Finney to fight back by packing the receiver with dirt.

What is the first ghost caller Bruce's advice to Finney?

Bruce's advice is to 'Remove a floor tile and dig a tunnel'; the foundations prove too deep, but the pit Finney digs becomes the trap that brings the Grabber down.

When the Grabber leaves the basement door unlocked, what does Billy warn is really happening?

Billy warns that 'The killer waits upstairs to beat him with a belt' as part of the Grabber's 'naughty boy' game, and instead points Finney to the cable hidden in the wall for reaching the window.

What is the name of the eccentric man the detectives question, who turns out to be living in the Grabber's house?

Max, played by James Ransone, is the Grabber's cocaine-fuelled amateur-sleuth brother; when he finally realises the truth, the Grabber kills him with an axe.

What is the name of the Grabber's dog, whose barking foils one escape?

The Grabber's dog is Samson; his barking rouses the Grabber during Finney's attempt to work the front-door lock combination a ghost caller gave him.

Which ghost caller, a juvenile delinquent, tells Finney to break through to a freezer?

Vance, the hot-tempered delinquent, tells Finney to smash through the wall with the toilet-tank lid into a storage room holding a freezer, but that room's door is locked too.

How does Finney finally kill the Grabber?

'He breaks his neck with the phone cord' after luring the Grabber into the pit and beating him with the dirt-packed receiver while the dead boys' voices taunt the killer through the phone.

Where does the Grabber's house turn out to be, relative to the house the police raid?

The Grabber's house is 'Directly across the street': Gwen's vision sent the police to the house where the bodies were buried while the killer held Finney a few yards away.

What does Finney tell his crush she can call him in the final scene?

Now regarded as a hero at school, he takes the seat next to her with new confidence.

Which horror-focused production company produced The Black Phone?

Blumhouse, the horror company founded by Jason Blum, produced the film alongside the filmmakers' own Crooked Highway, with Universal Pictures distributing.

Which Marvel film did Derrickson leave before returning to The Black Phone?

Derrickson left Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in January 2020 over creative differences; he had directed the first Doctor Strange, and Sam Raimi took over the sequel.

In which North Carolina city was the film shot in early 2021?

Filming took place in Wilmington, where EUE/Screen Gems Studios housed the basement sets; the shoot ran under a fake title in February and March 2021.

Roughly what was the film's production budget?

The budget was about $16–18 million; the film went on to earn close to ten times that at the worldwide box office.

In what film format were Gwen's dream sequences shot?

Gwen's dreams were shot on Super 8 film, a grainy home-movie format the director had also used for the found-footage reels in his earlier horror work.

Cinematographer Brett Jutkiewicz had just finished which 2022 horror film when he got the script?

Scream (2022) was Jutkiewicz's most recent shoot; he had also photographed Ready or Not, the 2019 horror-comedy from the same directing team.

Which special-effects legend co-founded the studio that built the Grabber's masks?

Tom Savini, the makeup-effects veteran behind Dawn of the Dead, co-founded Callosum Studios with Jason Baker, which designed and built the Grabber's masks.

Who composed the synthesizer-heavy score?

Mark Korven, the Canadian composer of The Witch and The Lighthouse, wrote the score, blending synthesizers with scraped and struck acoustic textures.

At which festival did the film premiere in September 2021?

The film premiered at Fantastic Fest in Austin on 25 September 2021, nine months before its delayed June 2022 theatrical release.

What was the tagline on the theatrical poster?

The poster's tagline was 'Never talk to strangers', a play on the childhood warning that the film's masked kidnapper turns deadly.

How much did The Black Phone gross worldwide?

The Black Phone grossed $161.4m worldwide, about $90 million of it in the United States and Canada, on a budget under $20 million.

Derrickson's short 'Dreamkill', set in the Black Phone universe, appears in which anthology film?

'Dreamkill' is Derrickson's segment of V/H/S/85, the 2023 entry in the found-footage anthology series, about videotapes showing murders before they happen in 1985.

In which year is Black Phone 2 set?

Black Phone 2 is set in 1982, four years after the original, as Gwen begins dreaming about murders committed at a camp decades earlier.

To what kind of place do Finney, Gwen and Ernesto travel in the sequel?

They head to 'A snowbound winter youth camp', a Christian camp where a blizzard traps them alongside the owner, his niece and two staff members.

Which of the Grabber's victims was a paperboy abducted on his route?

Billy Showalter, the paperboy, is snatched mid-route; as a ghost caller he later tells Finney about the cable he hid in the basement wall.

Which Mexican actor joined the sequel as camp owner Armando?

Demián Bichir, an Oscar nominee for A Better Life, plays Armando, the camp owner who shelters the trio when the blizzard hits.

Who composed the score for Black Phone 2?

The score is by Atticus Derrickson, the director's son, replacing the first film's composer; the sequel was again written by the director with C. Robert Cargill.

Which film did Black Phone 2 dethrone at the top of the US box office in October 2025?

Black Phone 2 opened at number one on 17 October 2025, knocking Disney's Tron: Ares from the top spot after a single week.

How old is Finney in the original short story?

The story's Finney is 13; as in the film, the disconnected black phone in the basement rings at night with the whispers of the killer's dead victims.

The story's author is the son of which two novelists?

Stephen and Tabitha King are his parents; he kept the connection quiet for about a decade and confirmed it publicly only in 2007, after his debut novel Heart-Shaped Box.

Which actor plays Terrence, Finney and Gwen's abusive, alcoholic father?

Jeremy Davies plays Terrence, the grieving, violent father; Davies, known for Lost and Justified, returned to the role in Black Phone 2.

On which earlier Derrickson film had Ethan Hawke and James Ransone both previously worked with the director?

Sinister (2012) cast Hawke as a true-crime writer and Ransone as the deputy; Hawke was wary of villain roles, but the director sent him the script on the strength of that rapport.

Where did the 1957 murders Gwen sees in her dreams in Black Phone 2 take place?

The murders happened at Alpine Lake Camp, the Christian camp where Gwen, Finney and their friend Ernesto travel in a winter storm to seek answers about their late mother.