Ethan Hawke is a kids kidnapper in horror “The Black Phone” [trailer + clips]

Since he started to become a movie star as a young adult, Ethan Hawke has been notorious for taking risky and intense roles to prove he is a capable and versatile actor, which he has proven for decades. Starting as one of the cast members of cult drama Dead Poets Society (1989), he has taken part in some of the most iconic movies in several genres of the last decades like indie comedy-drama Reality Bites (1994), science-fiction Gattaca (1997), political drama Fast Food Nation (2006), or action-horror The Purge (2013). His latest effort is The Black Phone (2021), and it’s coming out this summer.

The movie centers on Finney Shaw, a shy but clever 13-year-old boy who is abducted by a sadistic killer called The Grabber (Hawke) 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.

The main attraction of the film is Ethan Hawke, who might not be prolific in horror titles but he starred in Daybreakers (2009) and Sinister (2012). Jeremy Davies, James Ransone, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, and Kellan Rhude also star.

The Black Phone (2021) is based on a story by Joe Hill, the son of popular horror author Stephen King and also the writer of the screenplays for Horns (2013), In the Tall Grass (2019), and Locke & Key (2020). Scott Derrickson, who has been behind The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008), Sinister (2012), Deliver Us from Evil (2014), and Doctor Strange (2016), is directing and co-writing the screenplay together with his frequent collaborator C. Robert Cargill.

The masks that the character of The Grabber is wearing throughout the entire movie, each exposing different portions of Ethan Hawke’s face, were designed by legendary prosthetic makeup artist Tom Savini. Bloody-Disgusting has shared three clips from the film and in the first two we can see the transformation of Hawke into The Grabber, something really bone-chilling at least.

Clip #1: “This Face”

Clip #2: ” Finney Tries to Trick The Grabber”

Clip #3: ” Gwen Tries To Make Finney Say The Grabber’s Name”

The movie is Rated R for violence, bloody images, language, and some drug use. Blumhouse Productions and Crooked Highway are producing and Universal Pictures is distributing. The Black Phone (2021) had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest on September 25, 2021, and is scheduled for a worldwide theatrical release on June 24, 2022.

Watch the second official trailer for The Black Phone (2021) here.