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In this episode of Drawn to Darkness, we continue our accidental-but-now-definitely-intentional basement series with Scott Derrickson’s 2021 supernatural horror-thriller The Black Phone, based on the Joe Hill short story. We unpack the film’s very Stephen “Kingian” mix of coming-of-age trauma, small-town fear, ghostly intervention, and very bad decisions approaching weirdos in windowless vans. We discuss Finney and Gwen’s bond, the horror already inside their home, the 1970s stranger-danger atmosphere, Ethan Hawke’s deeply unsettling performance as The Grabber, and why the film works so well by leaving some of its worst horrors implied rather than shown. We also talk about how clever this film is in the way the many failed escape attempts become useful later, and why every clue in this basement escape room matters.

Content & Spoiler Warning:

This episode includes discussion of child abduction, family violence, alcoholism, bullying, physical violence involving children and teenagers, murder, grief, suicide references, ghosts, confinement, implied harm to children, and frightening basement imagery. We also discuss domestic abuse and substance use in a way that recognises the harm caused without reducing those issues to simple villainy or suggesting that one dramatic event can magically “fix” addiction. And of course, we spoil The Black Phone.

Palate Cleanser:

For sports fans, keep hope alive. Sometimes the Knicks win, sometimes Lewis Hamilton wins his first race with Ferrari, sometimes Queensland wins State of Origin, and sometimes your team actually gives you a reason to believe in something other than dread, basements and serial killers.

Also, go back and watch The Hills or The Soup for a dose of early-2000s pop culture chaos.

And for something more meaningful, read “Millions of Women Are Left Out of Menopause’s Moment” from The New York Times, written by a friend of Caroline’s.

Recommendations:

For more Ethan Hawke:

Reality Bites
Sinister
The Purge
Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight
Dead Poets Society
Gattaca
Boyhood

For more Scott Derrickson horror:

The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Sinister
Black Phone 2 - not as clean or strong as the first film, but still worth a watch if you want more of  Ethan Hawke as the Grabber.

For more basement horror, kids with powers, and “beneath the surface” dread:

See our earlier episodes on Mindhunter,  The Silence of the Lambs, Penpal by Dathan Auerbach, The Devil in the White City, The Cask of Amontillado, The Sixth Sense, and Stranger Things.

We haven’t covered these yet (all on the list), but they fit the theme:

The Babadook
The Orphanage
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The Shining
It
Toy Story 4 — yes, somehow, for the creepy doll energy.

For coming-of-age survival stories with Stephen King or Spielberg energy:

Stand by Me
E.T.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
Boy Swallows Universe — novel or Netflix series, with bonus Brisbane connection.

For more true crime and profiling connections:

Dateline’s “True Confession” episode on the Angie Dodge case
Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart
The Witness
Cases connected to John Wayne Gacy, Jacob Wetterling, Etan Patz, and the Rochester Alphabet Murders  (trigger warning: these are real cases involving children).

Random Connections:

Home Alone for basement fear and sprinting up the stairs like something is behind you.

Dazed and Confused for the 1970s atmosphere and very punchable bullies..

Return to Oz and The Secret of NIMH for childhood films that had no business being as scary as they were.

The Wire for a more grounded depiction of substance use and recovery.

Homework:

Listen to Radio Rental, Volume One (episodes 1-6). We are moving from supernatural basement phones and 1970s child abduction into true creepy stories, eerie encounters and the kind of “this happened to a friend of a friend” dread that makes you check your locks twice.

And remember: do not approach the black van. Do not help the magician with his groceries. Do not go to the second location. And if a disconnected phone starts ringing in a murder basement, answer it.