Ethan Hawke is the shining star of the film “The Black Phone.” There is no debate that Hawke has earned a photo on the wall of iconic horror movie villains. This chilling film follows a series of child kidnappings and murders done by a mysterious man known as The Grabber.

The main character, a young boy named Finney, is an eventual victim of this mysterious killer and communicates with the spirits of the children who died at The Grabber’s hands. As previously mentioned, Hawke gives a standout performance, finding the line between tastefulness in a very raunchy and hard-to-swallow topic and a chilling portrayal of a mentally unwell monster. The movie never fully addresses his true intentions with the boys he kidnaps. This seems very intentional since the subject can get vile if not treated right. Moments where anything is hinted at are quick, vague and left to the interpretation of the viewer.

Finney is kept in the basement for what we can assume is a few weeks, since he does not play the games of The Grabber. The game, called “Naughty Boy,” is described to Finney by the spirits of the other boys taken by this killer. In reality, this “game” is just an excuse to beat the boys. The Grabber is depicted with his shirt off as he waits for Finney to sneak upstairs and ‘play”; however, there is no sexual content shown or blatently explained to Finney, again leaving such a controversial part of a movie left to the interpretation of the audience.

The movie itself has an 82% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and an 88% audience score. “The Black Phone” is praised for building upon the short story it was based on and how ambiguous the story is, while being dark, twisted and an overall fantastic horror film that has earned its place among the greats.