The Black Phone(2022)

R
Rated R for violence, bloody images, language and some drug use.
1h 43m

Release Date: Jun 24, 2022 | Wide

B+
6.9

After being abducted and locked in a basement, a boy starts receiving calls on a disconnected phone from the killer's previous victims.

Official Website

Releases

Original Release | Jun 24, 2022

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Box Office Results

Results

Opening Weekend US & Canada:
$23,633,220
Total US & Canada:
$90,123,230
Total International
$71,317,512
Total Worldwide:
$161,440,742

Current Showtimes

Your Location or

(U.S. Only)

Director & Top Cast

Scott Derrickson
Director

C. Robert Cargill

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: Dolby Atmos

Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English

Summaries

Plot Summary

In 1978, a serial child abductor nicknamed "The Grabber" prowls the streets of a Denver suburb. Siblings Finney and Gwen Blake live in the area with their abusive, alcoholic father. At school, Finney is frequently bullied and harassed. He has a friendship with a classmate, Robin, who fends off the bullies. A boy from another school that Finney knew, Bruce, is abducted by the Grabber. Gwen, who has psychic dreams much like her late mother, dreams of Bruce's kidnapping and sees that he was taken by a man in a black van with black balloons. Detectives Wright and Miller interview Gwen but struggle to believe her claims. The Grabber abducts Robin, as well as Finney days later. Finney awakens in a soundproofed basement. On the wall is a disconnected black rotary phone that the Grabber says does not work. Later, Finney hears the phone ring and answers it. Bruce's ghost, unable to remember his own name or who he was when he was alive, tells Finney about a floor tile he can remove to dig a tunnel to escape.The police search for Finney is unsuccessful. The Grabber brings Finney's food and leaves the door to the basement unlocked. Finney prepares to sneak out but is stopped by another boy on the phone called Billy. He explains this is a game that the Grabber plays, and he is waiting upstairs to attack Finney with a belt if he leaves the basement. Billy instructs him to use a cord Billy found to get out via the basement window. While climbing Finney breaks the bars on the window, preventing him from climbing back up. Gwen dreams of Billy being abducted and confides in her father about what is happening.Wright and Miller speak to an eccentric man called Max who is staying in the area with his brother. It is revealed Finney is being held in Max's basement, which he is unaware of, and the Grabber is his brother. After an agitated exchange with the Grabber, where he tests Finney's honesty, he makes it seem as if he would have let Finney go. Finney speaks to another one of his victims, Griffin, on the phone. Griffin shows Finney a combination to a lock and informs him that the Grabber has fallen asleep upstairs. Finney sneaks upstairs and unlocks the door but the Grabber's dog alerts him of Finney's escape. Finney flees down the street but is recaptured.Despondent over his failed escape attempt, Finney answers the phone to hear another victim, a punk called Vance whom Finney was scared of. Vance informs Finney of a connecting storage room he can escape through if he breaks a hole in the wall and exits through the freezer on the other side of the wall. Finney creates a hole with a toilet tank cover and enters the back of the freezer only to discover that the freezer door is locked. The phone rings one more time with Robin at the end of the line. He comforts Finney and encourages him to finally stand up and fight for himself. He instructs Finney to remove the phone receiver and pack it with the dirt he had dug up to use as a weapon.Gwen dreams of Vance's abduction and discovers the property of the Grabber. She finds the house and contacts Wright and Miller. Max realizes Finney is being held in the house and rushes to the basement to free him, but his brother kills him with an axe. The police rush to the house that Gwen found but find it is empty. In the basement, they find the buried bodies of the Grabber's victims. The Grabber attacks Finney with the axe, but Finney manages to trip the Grabber with the cord, causing him to fall into the tunnel Finney dug, where the Grabber breaks and traps his ankle in the window bars placed at the bottom. The ghosts taunt the Grabber over the phone before Finney breaks his neck with the phone cord, killing him. Finney distracts the guard dog with meat from the freezer and escapes the house using the combination he learned. Finney exits the house across the street from the grave-sites where he reunites with Gwen and the police rush to the property. The siblings comfort each other as their father arrives and tearfully apologizes for his treatment. Back at school, a confident Finney sits next to his crush in class

Storyline

Finney Blake is a shy but clever 13-year-old boy who is abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of no 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. — thebucketrider North Denver, 1978. As the dreadful infamy of the stealthy child abductor known as The Grabber spreads across the city, terrorising its residents, tight-knit siblings Finney and Gwen live in fear of two things: the masked serial killer and their abusive father. When the monstrous Grabber kidnaps yet another defenceless boy, two local detectives embark on a time-sensitive mission to shed light on the knotty child disappearance cases, trying to piece insubstantial evidence together. However, the disconnected black rotary telephone on the wall of the deranged kidnapper's well-soundproofed basement keeps ringing. But who's on the other end of the line? — Nick Riganas Kids are disappearing in a quiet suburb of Denver. The latest victim, Finney Blake, finds himself imprisoned in a basement. His masked kidnapper hasn't harmed him but how long will that last? There's a black phone on the wall of his cell which is supposed to be inoperable but Finney keeps getting calls from previous victims. They give him clues on how to escape his kidnapper. In addition his sister is having dreams of Finney's situation, providing clues to his location. — grantss A vicious killer known as the grabber kidnaps a 13 year old boy and locks him up in a soundproof basement. He starts receiving phone calls from the killers past victims. Eventually, he starts finding a way out all on his own and kills the grabber. — sshedloski