Film

The Black Phone

Name: The Black Phone
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Released: 2022
Cast: Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Ethan Hawke, Jeremy Davies, E. Roger Mitchell

A tense supernatural thriller about a kidnapped boy who receives calls from his abductor's previous victims on a disconnected phone in the basement. Scott Derrickson crafts something genuinely unsettling—part locked-room horror, part coming-of-age story—that takes its young protagonist's ingenuity seriously without cynicism. It's for people who want their scares grounded in character and consequence.

TMDb rating

3.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like horror built on dread and a child's resourcefulness rather than gore, and you want a tense, claustrophobic chamber piece with a streak of grit and some eerie texture that lingers after the credits.

Skip it if you want steady scares or a lot of plot movement, since much of the runtime is one confined room and the pace stays deliberately heavy and bleak.

What it asks of you: Patience with a slow build and a lot of waiting in cramped, dim spaces, then a faster final stretch; it is grim for most of its hour and a half and leaves little room to breathe.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

It Follows2015

A haunting concept executed with real dread and intelligence. Like The Black Phone, it trusts the audience to sit with unease and pairs supernatural threat with genuine human vulnerability. Beautifully made and genuinely frightening.

But The pacing is deliberately slow and meditative. If you want jump scares and action beats, this will feel glacial.

10 Cloverfield Lane2016

Claustrophobic, clever, and anchored by an exceptional performance from John Goodman. It's confined, tense, and builds its horror from paranoia and character—exactly what makes The Black Phone work at its core.

But The third act divides opinions sharply. Some find it a tonal departure; others feel it undermines what came before.

Sinister2012

Scott Derrickson's masterpiece of accumulating dread. It uses found footage and supernatural mystery the way The Black Phone uses the phone itself—as a device that deepens rather than explains the horror. Genuinely unsettling.

But Heavy and bleak throughout. There's no catharsis here, only mounting darkness and a sense of inevitability.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Black Phone

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Midnight Mass2021

Both use physical and psychological confinement to ask what happens when a young person has to think their way through something adults have failed them on. Both trust their audience's intelligence completely.

Mike Flanagan's miniseries traps a community on an island and slowly reveals something monstrously wrong, building dread through character and atmosphere the way The Black Phone does in its basement. Except this is theological horror—the threat is existential, not just physical.

But It's seven hours of mounting tension with religious themes that some find preachy. And it does not offer the relief of conventional horror climax; it earns its ending through patient interrogation of faith and community.

Hush2016

A deaf writer trapped in her home by a killer—minimalist, visceral, and all about resourcefulness under impossible pressure. The same DNA as Finney's survival instinct, just with the threat right outside rather than inside.

But It's a home-invasion film that doesn't flinch. If realistic violence makes you check out, this won't stop.

The Invisible Man2020

Leigh Whannell's remake uses its fantastical premise to explore real psychological terror and entrapment. Like The Black Phone, it's genuinely interested in how intelligence and will can be weapons against overwhelming odds.

But The social commentary can feel heavy-handed. Some viewers find it didactic rather than organic.

Insidious2011

James Wan's control of atmosphere and the liminal terror of the Further shares DNA with The Black Phone's basement dread. It's supernatural but grounded, and genuinely unsettling without relying on gore.

But Once the rules of the mythology become clear, some of the mystery evaporates. The sequel-baiting is hard to ignore.

A Tale of Two Sisters2003

A haunting South Korean film that builds psychological horror from family trauma and unreliable perception. Visually gorgeous and emotionally devastating, with the same commitment to unease over explanation.

But The narrative is intentionally fractured and dreamlike. It rewards interpretation but resists concrete answers.

Goodnight Mommy2015

An Austrian film about two boys isolated in a house with something deeply wrong. It's claustrophobic, psychologically strange, and unafraid to sit with genuinely disturbing implications about family and safety.

But It's genuinely bleak and unsettling in ways that won't leave your head easily. The twist divides viewers on whether it recontextualizes or just depresses.

Come True2020

A low-budget sci-fi horror about sleep studies and isolation. It shares The Black Phone's commitment to sustaining dread and its interest in vulnerable protagonists trapped by circumstance, with genuinely eerie practical effects.

But The pacing is glacial and the ending is abstract. If you need narrative resolution or conventional horror payoffs, you'll be frustrated.

Martyrs2008

Both are about young people surviving situations designed to break them, and both ask whether survival and escape are the same thing. Both understand that some scars don't heal into simple triumph.

A French-Canadian horror film about trauma, survival, and the cost of revenge. It's philosophical horror that takes suffering seriously—not as spectacle but as a question about meaning. Unforgettable and demands something from you as a viewer.

But It's relentlessly dark and features graphic violence in service of its themes. It's not exploitative, but it doesn't look away. Some viewers find it nihilistic rather than profound.