If you’ve forgotten the simple joy of sitting in an AC’ed, dark theatre with an icy Vanilla Sprite in your hand while you stuff your face with popcorn, that’s where the horror begins my friend.

As you settle in, you realize that your over-enthusiasm for movie-going normality got you a date and centre seats to Scott Derrickson’s THE BLACK PHONE.

What is this movie about?! You ask.

You fire up Google while your hot date slips to the washroom and find me, WTF Bride.

I mean you’re a smart person. Judging from the visually-striking mask that Ethan Hawke is wearing on the movie poster, you’re fully aware you’ve stepped into a horror movie.

One about a 13-year-old Finney Shaw (Mason Thames) who gets abducted by a creepy killer dubbed The Grabber (Hawke). Finney is trapped in a soundproof basement with only one thing - a disconnected, antique black phone where he can hear the voices of past victims, trying to help him escape!

You finish reading the synopsis as your date comes back. Now you need to go to the washroom.

Don’t worry. The Black Phone isn’t one of those exploitative films that makes you sit through unnecessary violence inflicted on children.

FUN FACT - If it was exploitative, BP wouldn’t have been able to get Gore Daddy Tom Savini to design The Grabber’s mask. Savini is a legend in the horror-sphere and is responsible for that iconic hockey mask worn by Jason Voorhees.

ANOTHER FUN FACT FOR YOUR DATE - Savini worked on Creepshow which was written by the King of Horror, Stephen King. King’s son, Joe Hill, acted on Creepshow and is the one who wrote the Black Phone!

Based on Hill’s short story, you’ll wonder how there’s enough source material for a movie running 1h, 42 minutes.

If there’s anything Joe Hill weaves into his stories, it is heart - the driving force that moved the Black Phone’s narrative beyond the pages of a book.

Brother & sister Finney and Gwen Shaw will give you something to care about as you move through their tense relationship with their alcoholic father and their unrelenting love for each other. You’ll fall apart with Gwen when she finds out that her brother was taken by the Grabber, and you’ll feel scared for Finney’s fate in that soundproof basement.

You’ll feel especially devastated when the Grabber kidnaps Finney’s only friend, Robin. When Finney is sobbing his heart out in the Grabber’s basement, it’s Robin’s call from beyond the grave that pushes Finney to fight back.

There’s tenderness and hope in the Black Phone, but that doesn’t mean it’s not terrifying!

The Black Phone explores the childhood nightmares of surviving in a home where your parent is an addict and the people who prey on the lives of children.

The narrative forces you to look long and hard at the everyday monsters who are hidden in plain sight. The indigestible fact that there are people out there who derive pleasure from inflicting pain on children.