The Trailer For The Black Phone Will Give You Nightmares
In 2016, "Doctor Strange" introduced Marvel Comics' Sorcerer Supreme to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While director Scott Derrickson had a number of directorial credits to his name by that point, "Doctor Strange" was nevertheless a new direction for Derrickson, whose filmography prior to his first MCU outing had been almost entirely comprised of horror films. Among his prior works as director are movies like "Hellraiser: Inferno," "The Exorcism of Emily Rose," "Sinister," and "Deliver Us from Evil."
Now, Derrickson's follow-up to "Doctor Strange" will be a horror feature called "The Black Phone," marking a return to the genre that has largely defined his career. The film is based on a novella by author Joe Hill, who also wrote the comic book series "Locke & Key" that serves as the source material for the Netflix TV series of the same name. On October 13, distributor Universal Studios released its first full trailer for "The Black Phone," giving audiences their first look at the latest in Derrickson's growing horror oeuvre.
In The Black Phone, a boy plans his escape with help from some ghosts
The opening moments of the brand new trailer for "The Black Phone" introduce viewers to Finney Shaw (Mason Thames), a 13 year old boy, on his way home from school. He and his sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) pass by a poster for a missing boy, kidnapped by a criminal Gwen refers to as The Grabber. Seemingly moments later, Finney runs into a magician who asks for help picking up some dropped items. Finney soon finds out that the magician is none other than the Grabber (portrayed by Ethan Hawke) himself when he wakes up in a desolate cell containing little more than a decrepit bed and a black rotary phone.
Though the Grabber claims the phone is broken, pointing to a severed wire, Finney begins to receive calls from the ghosts of the kids the Grabber killed before kidnapping Finney. Together they use the knowledge they accumulated while being kidnapped to plot an escape. Meanwhile, Gwen is having dreams about Finney, and seems to be on her own journey to save her brother.
Though the trailer seems to tease Finney's escape, a montage of some horrific scenes appear to follow suggest his situation may be more complicated than it initially seems.
As announced at the trailer's end, "The Black Phone" will release in theaters on February 4, 2022.