The Black Phone’s “Phenomenal” Turnout

By: Karli Branson

In June 2022, Director Scott Derrickson presented The Black Phone starring accomplished actor Ethan Hawke.

This film depicts the horror of child kidnapping as we follow 13-year old Finney Shaw who has been abducted by a masked killer. Held in a basement with no escape, Finney hears a disconnected phone ring. On the other end, the killers past victims who make it their mission to assure that what happened to them does not happen to Finney.

I was pleasantly surprised with how this movie came out and would 100% recommend it to others. Going into watching it, I didn’t know if it would be as interesting as I expected but I can honestly say that I was impressed.

This movie wasn’t too scary and I felt the thriller aspect really came to life.  It stands out to me as opposed to other movies because it brings real problems to life while also keeping viewers entertained with the fictional aspect.

Students of Redwood were asked about their thoughts on The Black Phone: 

Joel Llerenas ‘24 says, “I don’t like horror movies but this was probably one of my top three”He included that he was impressed and would recommend this movie to others. Even though it is labeled as scary, Llerenas was happy that he took the chance and watched it.

He also states, “I think Ethan Hawke did really good as The Grabber and I would watch more of his stuff.” 

Another student, Daisy Trevino ‘24 was excited to share her thoughts on The Black Phone. She says, “I had never really seen anything like it” She thought it was nice that this movie felt original and not like a remake of older movies. As for the acting she said “It’s not top tier but it was pretty good” 

Daisy also added, “My expectations were pretty high for this movie and for me, it met them” Trevino then said that the movie was more thrilling than scary and categorized it as “a very good thriller”. 

Someone else who wanted to add was Gianluca Vaccaro ‘24 who shared his thoughts on the film. He expected it to be “just another horror movie” but was surprised at the suspense and detail that the movie contained. He pointed out that the acting “looked like something you would see in real life” and he was moved by the story line and friendship aspects.  

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