‘Maybe he isn't as gone as we thought he was': The Black Phone writer teases The Grabber's return

Perth Now

07-07-2025

The Black Phone writer Joe Hill has teased The Grabber 'maybe isn't as gone as we thought he was' in The Black Phone 2.
The original 2021 horror movie sees the sinister kidnapper (Ethan Hawke) meets a grizzy end at the hands of his victim Finnley Shaw (Mason Thames), though Hill - who wrote the 2004 short story of the same name that The Black Phone is based on - has now teased the threat of the The Grabber still lurks by the events of The Black Phone 2.
Speaking with Screen Rant about The Black Phone 2, Hill said: 'I don't think I could say too much about that, but I have seen the theories. I would just point out The Grabber is dead, but being dead hasn't stopped people from reaching out to Finney before.
'So, maybe he isn't as gone as we thought he was.'
The writer added he was 'excited' to see what audiences think of where director Scott Derrickson and co-writer C. Robert Cargill take the story next, and teased they had snuck in a 'trap door' into the first movie that would lead directly into The Black Phone 2.
He said: 'I'm excited to see what people make of the picture. Originally, Scott and Cargill weren't sure there was a sequel there, but there were two things the first time I saw the film.
'Even before I saw the film, when I saw the mask, I thought, 'Oh, there's gonna be a bunch of these pictures, because that's iconic in the way of Freddy Krueger's glove and Michael Myers' mask, and the hockey mask, and stuff. I think we're going to have a bunch of The Grabber.'
'And then, when I saw the film, there's a thing in the first picture, just a brief thing, and when I saw that, I thought, 'Oh, that's a trap door into the second film. They stuck something.'
'And I was like, 'I don't even know if they know that they just stuck this thing in the movie that's the obvious door to fling open to go into the second picture.''
Hill teased he had pitched this 'trap door' idea for The Black Phone 2, which Derrickson and Cargill thought was 'really cool'.
He continued: 'So, I pitched this idea to them, and they both thought it was really cool. And then, Scott brought in some more stuff.
'The first film, in some ways, is very autobiographical. It's about growing up dirty and in the 1970s in Denver, and he brought some more stuff in there.
'And then Cargill is just a masterful engineer in terms of figuring out how to engineer a suspenseful sequence, and put his characters in peril. So, they wound up with a great script, and I'm excited for the film to come out.'
The Black Phone follows Finney Shaw (Thames), who is kidnapped by The Grabber (Hawke) and thrown into a soundproof basement.
After a disconnected phone starts to ring, the terrified boy discovers he can hear the voices of The Grabber's previous victims, who are determined to help him escape the killer with his life.
The sequel, The Black Phone 2, is slated to hit cinemas in October 2025.