The Black Phone

Derrickson went to direct The Black Phone after departing from Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness over creative differences. Filming occurred over two months in Wilmington and surrounding counties in the state of North Carolina.

The Black Phone premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 25, 2021, and was theatrically released by Universal Pictures on June 24, 2022. A box office hit, the film grossed $161 million worldwide and generally received positive reviews. A sequel is in development and set for release on June 27, 2025.

Having inherited her mother’s ability, Gwen dreams about the Grabber’s abduction of Bruce, a boy Finney knew from Little League. Two police detectives, Wright and Miller, interview Gwen at school, believing that she may have knowledge about the Grabber. When Terrence learns about the questioning, he beats her with a belt. Soon afterward, the Grabber abducts first Robin and then Finney.

Finney awakens in a soundproofed basement with a disconnected black rotary dial telephone on one wall. It begins to ring on its own at times; Finney hears only static when he first answers it, but then hears Bruce’s voice telling him about a floor tile he can remove in order to dig an escape tunnel. Finney starts to dig, but the foundations of the house are sunk too deeply for him to go beneath them.

The Grabber brings Finney a meal and leaves the basement door unlocked. As Finney is about to sneak out, he gets a call from Billy, another victim. Billy warns Finney that the Grabber is waiting at the top of the basement stairs to punish him if he tries to leave, as part of a cruel game. At Billy’s suggestion, Finney uses a hidden length of cable to climb up to the basement window; however, his weight pulls out the grate covering the pane, leaving him with no way to reach it again.

As Gwen confides to Terrence about her dreams of Finney’s abduction, Wright and Miller question an eccentric man named Max who is staying in the area with his brother and who has shown great interest in the Grabber’s crimes. It is revealed that Finney is being held in Max’s basement, and that the Grabber is his brother.

Finney receives a call from Griffin, a third victim, who gives him the combination to the lock securing the house’s front door and tells him that the Grabber has fallen asleep. He sneaks out and unlocks the door, but the Grabber quickly recaptures Finney after his dog Samson barks to wake him. A fourth victim, a delinquent named Vance who was one of Finney’s bullies, calls to tell him that he can break through a wall and into a freezer in the adjacent room. Finney does so, but finds the freezer door locked. As Finney despairs over his fate, he receives one last call from Robin, who urges him to stand up for himself and fight back by packing the phone receiver with dirt to use as a bludgeon.

After experiencing a vision of the Grabber’s house, Gwen calls Wright and Miller to give them the address. The police rush to the house and find the bodies of the Grabber’s victims buried in the basement. Meanwhile, Max realizes Finney is being held in the basement and rushes to free him, but the Grabber kills him with an axe and attacks Finney, having decided to end his game. Finney uses the byproducts from his previous escape attempts to trap the Grabber in a pit he has dug, beats him with the receiver, and breaks his neck with the phone cord as his past victims taunt him.

Throwing a steak from the freezer to Samson as a distraction, Finney leaves the house, which turns out to be across the street from the one the police have raided. Terrence tearfully begs Finney and Gwen to forgive his earlier treatment of them. Some time later, a newly confident Finney sits next to his crush in class and says she can call him Finn.