Why Only Finney And The Grabber Hear The Black Phone Ring
Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Black Phone.
Why is it that only The Grabber and Finney hear the ringing of The Black Phone in the basement? The adaptation of Joe Hill's short story The Black Phonebrings a supernatural twist to some well-worn hostage survival movie tropes. Its timely jumpscares, bleak late 70s atmosphere, and climactic revelations never leave a dull moment and pack enough chills and thrills to be remembered long after the credits start rolling.
The quick-paced storyline of The Black Phone goes back and forth between the past and the present. While the present timeline focuses on Finney, a 13-year-old boy, who must race against time and find a way out of a sadistic serial killer's basement, the past reflects upon the life and death of the killer's previous victims. The film uses a black phone in the basement as a narrative device to drive Finney's escape plan. Despite being disconnected from the wall it rests on, the black phone often rings and allows Finney to talk to the killer's previous victims, who make up part of The Black Phone's cast of characters as they are are determined to punish The Grabber (played by Ethan Hawke).
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The black phone plays a vital role in helping Finney escape. However, it is curious that several moments in The Black Phone's opening arc suggest that, except for Finney, none of The Grabber's previous victims heard it ringing when they were trapped in his basement. What makes the phone's inner workings all the more baffling is that The Grabber initially claims the phone has not worked since he was a kid but later says that he, too, has heard it ringing. Given how many scenes in the movie
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