Ethan Hawke is Insanely Creepy in New “The Black Phone” Trailer

Normally we’d advise against talking to dead people on the phone, but in the case of The Black Phone, an exception must be made. Writer/director Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange) has returned to his horror roots and tapped none other than Ethan Hawke to play the exquisitely creepy child killer known as The Grabber. Universal Pictures has just delivered the second trailer for the film, which Derrickson co-wrote with C. Robert Cargill, and adapted from a short story by horror maestro Joe Hill. The trailer is profoundly spooky, which is precisely the vibe all involved are going for.

The Black Phone finds Hawke’s lunatic abducting Finney Shaw (Mason Thames), a 13-year-old kid who The Grabber intends to be his next victim. Locked in a soundproof dungeon (more or less), Finney finds a black phone, one that The Grabber claims is broken but which rings for Finney. On the other end of the line? The Grabber’s previous victims, who, from beyond the grave, are set on helping Finney survive.

Derrickson made his name on the horror film The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Sinister, which first connected him to Hawke. Now they’ve reteamed for a terrifying tale that is every parent’s worst nightmare. In Finney Shaw, however, it looks like The Grabber might have grabbed his last.

Check out the trailer below. The Black Phone hits theaters on June 24.

Here’s the official synopsis for Black Phone:

The phone is dead. And it’s ringing.

Director Scott Derrickson returns to his terror roots and partners again with the foremost brand in the genre, Blumhouse, with a new horror thriller.

Finney Shaw, a shy but clever 13-year-old boy, is abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of little 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.

Starring four-time Oscar® nominee Ethan Hawke in the most terrifying role of his career and introducing Mason Thames in his first ever film role, The Black Phone is produced, directed, and co-written by Scott Derrickson, the writer-director of Sinister, The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Marvel’s Doctor Strange.

The film’s screenplay is by Derrickson & C. Robert Cargill (Doctor Strange, Sinister franchise), based on the award-winning short story by Joe Hill from his New York Times bestseller 20th Century Ghosts. The film is produced by Derrickson & Cargill’s Crooked Highway and presented by Universal and Blumhouse. Jason Blum, Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill are producers on the film, which is executive produced by Ryan Turek and Christopher H. Warner.

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Featured image: “Black Phone” theatrical poster. Courtesy Universal Pictures.