The Black Phone Image Shows A Bloodied Ethan Hawke In Terrifying Mask

The official trailer for Scott Derrickson’s The Black Phone is, without a doubt, terrifying. As it goes with any thriller/horror flick, of course, there’s a masked creep in this one as well!

Ethan Hawke’s The Grabber is seen wearing a mask that seems to be split into two parts. The upper half has a clean and sophisticated design, while the lower half has the creepiest smile that gets even more creepy if you keep staring at it.

Empire has released an exclusive new photo of Hawke, bloodied, holding an ax, with just the upper half of the mask, and boy, does the character looks just as terrifying and unsettling without the smile.

The mask was designed by renowned prosthetic makeup artist Tom Savini. Derrickson talked about his intentions for the mask, how the design came to be, and the work that went into it,

Tom gave me a sketch he had done himself. As soon as I saw it, I was like, ‘Oh, well, this is what we’re doing.’ It was really amazing. We spent two solid months just rejecting the things that they were sending me. I kept going, ‘It needs to look exactly like Tom’s artwork.’ It was much more of a challenge than I was expecting.

Scott Derrickson

Throughout the trailer, The Grabber is seen wearing different types of masks, glasses, and hats to cover up his face.

Based on the short story by Joe Hill, the film follows a young boy who is abducted by a sadistic serial killer known as The Grabber.

While talking to CBR, actor Mason Thames (Finney Shaw) said that Hawke’s acting made it easier for him to be scared of the character,

I really had to put myself in Finney’s shoes and really feel what it’d be like to be in this. It’s terrifying… It was really not too hard to get so scared when Ethan is in the mask… It was really fun working on it.

Mason Thames

Thames also went on to talk about the anticipation he felt before seeing Savini’s mask on set for the first time,

Tom Savini did amazing on that mask. I remember reading the script and just waiting. The first thing I wanted to see was the mask. Then I got on set, and then I saw it for the first time. It was in this big box, they unclipped it, they opened it like this giant suitcase, and it was just sitting there. I just stared at it. I loved it. I just want to take it, and steal it, and runoff. It’s amazing how terrifying that mask is. Terrifying.

Mason Thames

The Black Phone comes out in theaters on February 4, 2022.

About The Black Phone

The Black Phone is an American supernatural horror film directed by Scott Derrickson and produced by Jason Blum. Written by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, it is an adaptation of the 2004 short story of the same name by Joe Hill.

The film stars Mason Thames as an abducted child and Ethan Hawke as The Grabber. Other cast members include James Ransone
as Max, Madeleine McGraw as Gwen Shaw, Michael Banks Repeta as Griffin.

The story kicks off when five children go missing in a suburban Colorado town in the 1970s. Soon after, Finney Shaw is kidnapped by a serial killer and trapped inside of a soundproof basement. Finding a disconnected phone, Shaw discovers its ability to transmit the voices of the killer’s previous victims, who try to help him escape.