Latest news with #BlackPhone
Gizmodo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
8 Horror Movies That Send Terror Through Old-School Phone Lines
The new Black Phone 2 trailer centers on a phone booth that allows the Grabber—who seemingly met his end in the first Black Phone movie—to hiss new threats at his intended prey. That's a shade more sinister than how the phone was used in the 2021 original, when a mysterious land line allowed the dead to impart survival advice to the living. But 'scary phone calls' are a time-honored horror tradition (check out io9's taxonomy here!). Forget cell phones, FaceTime, and internet ghosts: today we're looking at 10 memorable showcases of land-line terror brought to the screen. Scream Opening the film with a faux 'wrong number' that's actually a killer's way of taunting his next victim is scary; having the killer get all meta and steer the conversation toward favorite horror movies is even scarier; having the dying victim's mother pick up the extension and hear her daughter gasping her last breath is the scariest. Scream hit theaters in 1996, long before cellphones became ubiquitous, and while the franchise has continued on as technology has advanced, the first film's clever use of such a well-known trope remains a series standout. Black Christmas The groundbreaking 1974 holiday slasher is not only the most effective on-screen depiction of 'the call is coming from inside the house' of all time, it also features maybe the most genuinely distressing series of phone calls ever. The shrieking, overlapping voices are otherworldly and reference a narrative that has seemingly nothing to do with the freaked-out sorority sisters hanging on to the receiver. Black Christmas also goes hard with its call-tracing subplot, showing us just how much effort that used to involve in the days before cell phone towers could pinpoint creeps within 100 feet. And it ends with a phone ringing, hammering home that in the right context, there's no more frightful sound. When a Stranger Calls Released in 1979, When a Stranger Calls leans into that same urban legend of the call coming from inside the house, with the added flavor of a babysitter in peril and, when the story flash-forwards, the ol' 'escaped lunatic' storyline. These are all familiar now, but they weren't back then, and no matter how many times you hear it, 'Have you checked the children?' is a gut-punch of an opener when you pick up. Clown in a Cornfield This recent release (haven't checked it out yet? What are you waiting for?) takes place in the present day, which means when a pair of teenage girls are desperately trying to call for help, their levels of panic skyrocket when they're confronted by a rotary-dial phone. It's such a relic and so unhelpful, it might as well be the possessed Fisher Price phone from Skinamarink instead. Compliance This skin-crawling 2021 thriller starring The Handmaid's Tale's Ann Dowd is based on a true story, which makes its ick factor even higher. A fast food restaurant manager takes a phone call from someone who claims to be a cop investigating a theft involving an employee who's still there working her shift—and as the hours pass, the voice on the phone coaxes all involved to do some very regrettable things. Compliance is technically not a horror movie, but in so much as ordinary human beings can be cruel monsters, it might as well be. Telefon Another thriller with a horror-movie idea at its core, this 1977 Cold War tale has action star Charles Bronson propelling the narrative as a series of sleeper agents are activated one by one. The phone enters into its Manchurian Candidate plot because the 'on' switch is activated when a brainwashed, deep-cover agent overhears lines from a certain Robert Frost poem. The title alone tells you how important the phone is here; it's fully weaponized to turn seemingly ordinary folks into assassins with just a conversation fragment. 976-Evil Robert Englund directed this 1988 cautionary tale about pay-by-the-minute phone lines—which may seem like a novelty (in addition to being a very outdated distraction in 2025), but instead might actually be providing a direct link to Satan. Teen cousins find out the hard way what happens when you get too excited by a new devilish influence in your life, but only one ends up getting dragged to hell in the end. The Ring Of all the dreaded calls to come through your land line, what could be worse than a demonic child reminding you that because you watched a certain cursed video tape, you have just seven days to live? Even the Grabber doesn't have a ticking clock that precise.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ethan Hawke and His Terrifying Mask Return from the Dead in Eerie 'Black Phone 2' Trailer
Ethan Hawke is back as the serial killer The Grabber in Black Phone 2, a sequel to his 2021 horror hit The Black Phone The new movie follows onscreen sibling duo Mason Thames and Madeline McGraw four years after the events of the original movie, as The Grabber seemingly returns from the dead to continue tormenting the pair Black Phone 2 is in theaters Oct. 17Ethan Hawke is bringing his terrifying horror villain back to the big screen. Universal Pictures has released the trailer for Black Phone 2, the sequel to 2021's horror hit The Black Phone from writer-director Scott Derrickson and co-writer C. Robert Cargill. The new movie is set four years after the events of The Black Phone, in which lead character Finn (Mason Thames) is kidnapped by Hawke's The Grabber and ultimately communicates with the serial killer's past victims in order to escape. According to an official synopsis for the movie, The Grabber now "seeks vengeance on Finn from beyond the grave" by menacing Finn's younger sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw.) "As Finn, now 17, struggles with life after his captivity, the headstrong 15-year-old Gwen begins receiving calls in her dreams from the black phone and seeing disturbing visions of three boys being stalked at a winter camp known as Alpine Lake," the synopsis reads. "Determined to solve the mystery and end the torment for both her and her brother, Gwen persuades Finn to visit the camp during a winter storm." Per the synopsis, Gwen "uncovers a shattering intersection between The Grabber and her own family's history" when she and Finn visit the camp. "Together, she and Finn must confront a killer who has grown more powerful in death and more significant to them than either could imagine." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The Black Phone became a box office hit upon its 2021 release, with several critics praising its thrilling tone and the rare villainous turn from Hawke, 54. "I've always had this theory that when you teach an audience how to see the demon inside you, they don't unsee it for the rest of your career. Jack Nicholson can be playing an accountant and you're still waiting for him to explode like he did in The Shining," Hawke said in an Entertainment Weekly interview at the time. "But I realized I'm on the other side of 50 and it's time to put a new tool in the tool kit. Villains might be my future." Black Phone 2 is in theaters Oct. 17. Read the original article on People
See - Sada Elbalad
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- See - Sada Elbalad
"The Black Phone 2" Is More Violent, Scarier, More Graphic, Says Director Scott Derrickson
Yara Sameh "Dead is just a word," that's the message behind Universal and Blumhouse's "The Black Phone 2". The official trailer unveiled Sunday at CCXP Mexico, a pop culture convention being held in Mexico City over the weekend. The movie is the sequel to the surprise 2022 hit that grossed $161 million against an $18 million budget. Based on a short story by Joe Hill, the son of Stephen King, the movie introduced audiences to the Grabber, a masked serial killer who abducts children, locking them up in his basement. One such kid, however, finds an unplugged but haunted rotary phone that connects him to the ghosts of the previous snatched boys, and in that a possible way out. The movie ends with the Grabber dead, so how is he back? The trailer shows builds to a chilling phone conversation between our hero, played by a returning Mason Thames, and the Grabber, once again played by Ethan Hawke, with the latter telling the teen, 'You of all people should know that dead is just a word.' Then the trailer unleashes a barrage of horror images. In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Director and co-writer Scott Derrickson elaboratedthe nature of ghost stories. 'The first movie was a ghost movie but all the ghosts were victims, which is typical, a ghost story,' he said prior to the trailer 's reveal. 'But in this one, you've got a ghost that is a villain.' With the first movie, Derrickson tapped into his Denver childhood, where bullies and violence were common. For the new movie, he drew on his high school experience of going to winter camps in the Rocky Mountains. The severity of the weather, the environment and the surrounding Rockies contributed to the tone of the sequel. The difference between middle school and high school ages of the characters is the big change in tone. 'A middle school coming-of-age horror movie is a different animal than a high school coming-of-age horror film,' Derrickson added. 'A there's a ratcheting up of intensity because of that.' Derrickson wasn't necessarily planning on a sequel to "Black Phone" but said Hill wrote to him a month or two after the movie came out with some ideas. And having it set in the high school years proved appealing, especially when he worked out the timing in his head. 'I thought if I go make another movie first and don't make a sequel now like you're supposed to, then by the time I finish, these kids are all going to be in high school,' he explained. The movie he did was the large-budgeted monster Apple TV+ movie titled "The Gorge" with Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller. 'And I can return to these characters in this different stage of their lives.' And because of that, "Black Phone 2" is more of a horror film than the first movie, which he considers to be a supernatural thriller. 'It is certainly more violent, scarier, more graphic,' he said. 'And part of that is because of the age of the kids.' read more New Tourism Route To Launch in Old Cairo Ahmed El Sakka-Led Play 'Sayidati Al Jamila' to Be Staged in KSA on Dec. 6 Mandy Moore Joins Season 2 of "Dr. Death" Anthology Series Don't Miss These Movies at 44th Cairo Int'l Film Festival Today Amr Diab to Headline KSA's MDLBEAST Soundstorm 2022 Festival Arts & Culture Mai Omar Stuns in Latest Instagram Photos Arts & Culture "The Flash" to End with Season 9 Arts & Culture Ministry of Culture Organizes four day Children's Film Festival Arts & Culture Canadian PM wishes Muslims Eid-al-Adha News Ayat Khaddoura's Final Video Captures Bombardment of Beit Lahia News Australia Fines Telegram $600,000 Over Terrorism, Child Abuse Content Sports Former Al Zamalek Player Ibrahim Shika Passes away after Long Battle with Cancer Sports Neymar Announced for Brazil's Preliminary List for 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers News Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly Inaugurates Two Indian Companies Arts & Culture New Archaeological Discovery from 26th Dynasty Uncovered in Karnak Temple Business Fear & Greed Index Plummets to Lowest Level Ever Recorded amid Global Trade War Arts & Culture Zahi Hawass: Claims of Columns Beneath the Pyramid of Khafre Are Lies News Flights suspended at Port Sudan Airport after Drone Attacks News Shell Unveils Cost-Cutting, LNG Growth Plan
Perth Now
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Black Phone 2 is 'more violent, scarier, more graphic'
'Black Phone 2' is "more violent, scarier" and "more graphic" than the original film, according to director Scott Derrickson. The first movie - starring Mason Thames and Ethan Hawke - was based on a short story by Stephen King's son Joe Hill and was released in 2021 with the second instalment now due for release in October - and Derrickson has now told fans they can expect more gore in the follow-up. He told The Hollywood Reporter: "It is certainly more violent, scarier, more graphic. And part of that is because of the age of the kids." The first film followed the story of a teenage boy Finney Shaw (Thames) who is abducted by a serial killer called The Grabber (Hawke) and thrown into a soundproof basement. The youngster then finds out he can hear the voices of the villain's previous victims through a disconnected phone and they try to help him escape. Thames is back for the second film, and Derrickson revealed he wanted to make a follow-up quickly before the young castmembers aged too much. He added: "I thought if I go make another movie first and don't make a sequel now like you're supposed to, then by the time I finish, these kids are all going to be in high school." The second film was helped along by Hill, who sent the director some ideas, and Derrickson is convinced having a slightly older cast gives the film a different feel. He said: "A middle school coming-of-age horror movie is a different animal than a high school coming-of-age horror film ... There's a ratcheting up of intensity because of that." Derrickson previously admitted making a sequel 'wasn't a foregone conclusion". When Screen Rant asked the director what fans could expect from 'Black Phone 2', Derrickson said: 'A lot of surprises, for sure. I just finished shooting 'Black Phone 2', and what I can tell you is that I didn't feel obliged to make a sequel. It wasn't a foregone conclusion that I would make a sequel." On a production budget of roughly $18 million, 'Black Phone' grossed $161.4 million at the box office. Before his return for 'Black Phone 2' was confirmed, Hawke - who had previously worked with Derrickson on the 2012 horror flick 'Sinister' - said he would happily reprise his role as The Grabber in the sequel. The 'Before Sunrise' actor told Collider: 'I had a really wonderful experience making my first scary movie with him. We did a movie called 'Sinister', and he's just a real filmmaker. "I love the way he thinks about film and storytelling. And as I get older, I really enjoy working in different genres as an actor. It's a way to shape [and] change yourself as a performer. 'By trying to learn the math of what makes a great romantic comedy, what makes a great art film, what makes a great horror film, what makes a great Western, you know, there's a certain geometry to all that and Scott is brilliant at that. 'And so, basically, if he wants me to be in 'Black Phone 2', I'm gonna do it.' 'Black Phone 2' is due for release on 17 October 2025.
Forbes
10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Rising Star Madeleine McGraw Discusses Her New ‘Black Phone 2' Sequel
US actress Madeleine McGraw poses with the Rising Star of 2025 award as she arrives for the ... More CinemaCon 2025 Big Screen Achievement Awards at Omnia Nightclub at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 3, 2025. (Photo by Michael Tran / AFP) (Photo by MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty Images) She may only be 16 years old, but actress Madeleine McGraw is already making a major impression on Hollywood, as well as up on the big screen with moviegoers. Best known so far for playing Gwen Shaw in the 2022 Universal Pictures and Blumhouse horror movie The Black Phone, a pleasantly surprising box office hit, grossing $161.4 million globally, McGraw has reprised her beloved character in The Black Phone 2 sequel, which is scheduled for a theatrical release on October 17, 2025 - just in time for Halloween. Finney Shaw (Mason Thames) and Gwen Shaw (Madeleine McGraw) in "The Black Phone" In this growing Black Phone cinematic universe, directed and co-written by Scott Derrickson, Gwen is a tenacious, young girl in the late 1970s, who discovers that she has a psychic gift to see prophetic images and symbols in her dreams, a rare ability that ultimately helps her find her kidnapped older brother Finney (played by actor Mason Thames) from a menacing masked killer, publicly known as 'The Grabber' (played by Ethan Hawke) for abducting young boys. On April 3, McGraw was honored as the 'Rising Star of 2025' at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Nevada, which annually brings together movie theater owners, vendors and other exhibitors to watch major movie studio presentations about their upcoming slate and to celebrate the evolving future of the moviegoing experience. Speaking with McGraw while she was at CinemaCon for her special recognition, I first congratulated her on her strong on-screen character Gwen, telling McGraw that her protagonist persona is so mature for her age and ahead of her time. McGraw said, 'She's iconic - and honestly, more mature than some adults, too - as we can see in the first movie.' So, how does McGraw feel about receiving the 'Rising Star of 2025' CinemaCon award from her moviegoing community? Madeleine McGraw accepts the "Rising Star of 2025" award during the CinemaCon Big Screen Achievement ... More Awards at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace during CinemaCon on April 03, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. 'It means truly everything,' McGraw said. 'I don't know where we'd be without movie theaters and people going to see movies in theaters. A lot of people have stopped going - we're going to get them back in the theaters with their popcorn, watching it on the big screen. Me and my friends - we try to keep it alive as much as we can.' While McGraw did play a significant role in the first Black Phone movie, she does play an even more central character in the upcoming sequel, as seen in the new trailer shown during the Universal and Blumhouse presentation at CinemaCon, but has yet to be released to the public. This time, the story is set a few years later in the 1980s at a winter camp, with 'The Grabber' continuing his terror in new ways. Knowing this, I wondered what it means to McGraw to get to play such a pivotal role this time around in The Black Phone 2? McGraw said, 'Everything. When I read the script for the first time, I was in complete shock. I'm just so honored to have the part that I have in the movie, and for Scott & [C. Robert] Cargill to write the story that they wrote for the second one. I think people are going to just be amazed. It is truly such an insanely good story - it is so emotional, it's got some funny moments - it's also very dark, though, at the same time. Very scary! Seriously, I'm just so grateful for Scott & Cargill.' McGraw is not the only one in her family making a name for herself in the horror genre. Her younger sister, Violet McGraw, starred in Blumhouse's other hit movie, 2022's M3GAN, with that sequel arriving in theaters on June 27, 2025. Madeleine McGraw and Violet McGraw attend CinemaCon on April 2, 2025, in Las Vegas, Nevada. So, in an entertainment industry where sequels are quite popular to make, but do not always have the same lasting impact on moviegoers as the original, I was curious what McGraw thinks makes The Black Phone 2 worthy of telling, in bringing this expanding story and these established characters back to the big screen? "The Black Phone 2" - in movie theaters October 17, 2025 'Scott has never directed a sequel before, until now. I think it's because he knew that we could go to new places with these characters that everyone loves so much. So, I feel like people will go, just to see the new storyline. These characters are older now, so they are going through different things. It's a lot different from the first movie, so I'm hoping that people love it as much as they did like the first.' As I concluded my conversation with McGraw, I wondered (without spoiling any sequel plot points) what she would say to her Black Phone character, Gwen, if only she could? McGraw said, 'Keep being that feisty girl that she is, because we need more feisty women out there.'
