The Black Phone's Creepy Grabber Masks Had 'A Whole Vision Board' Of Influences

Ethan Hawke's ghoulish villain, the Grabber, is a horrifying threat to the children of Denver, Colorado, in the 2021 horror movie, "The Black Phone." The serial killer is known for utilizing black balloons, playing the twisted game "Naughty Boy," and usually being concealed by disturbing masks. While speaking to the Los Angeles Times in June 2022, the film's director, Scott Derrickson, and special effects artists, Tom Savini and Jason Baker, discussed manufacturing the Grabber's spooky face coverings. The two makeup artists disclosed that the villain's upsetting accessories were based on real-life masks. According to Baker, before they agreed on the masks that appear on-screen, they studied images that featured face coverings found in ancient Greece and circuses. "We had a whole vision board at our studio, just little ideas and things that inspired us," he shared.

Baker also noted that Derrickson envisioned that the Grabber came across his masks, meaning they had to appear weathered. "Scott was like, 'It needs to look like something that [the Grabber] found, not something he created. They wanted it very old, very antique-y looking," stated the Callosum Studios owner.

Derrickson also shared he was drawn to Conrad Veidt's misunderstood character, Gwynplaine, known for his unnatural smile, in "The Man Who Laughs" when conceptualizing the "Black Phone" villain. "That particular grimace, I thought, could work well for the smile mask," explained the "Sinister" director.

In a June 2022 interview with Dead Meat, alongside Jason Baker, Tom Savini spoke about their part in conceptualizing the Grabber's masks. He stated that they gave proposals for the face coverings based on their findings while researching films and vintage masks. "Suggesting things from — just the research we did was circus masks, you know, Italian half masks, things like that, the movie, 'Mr. Sardonicus' with the big smile, you know, 'The Man Who Laughs,'" said Savini. He also noted that horns were added to the props as an indication of the character's wickedness.

Savini also referenced that the Grabber's masks changed depending on the character's goal in a given moment, which he likened to something worn during a Commedia dell'arte performance. "That had to add to the creepiness of his character, that he as a character actually went through the trouble of creating the top, bottom –- the smiling one was to entice [the children], the frowning one was when he was angry," said Savini.

In addition, Baker stated that he and Savini decided the masks would have been about 100 years old by the time the Grabber was utilizing them in the 1970s. They perused antique stores to ensure that the props resembled items from the appropriate time period. "We were doing all of this during COVID so at the little antique stores that we could actually get to and go and take photographs of like weird creepy old porcelain dolls and find all those reference photos," said Baker.