| ◄ | Marvel's Werewolf By Night (2022) KILL COUNT | The Black Phone (2021) KILL COUNT | Black Friday (2021) KILL COUNT | ► |
The Black Phone (2021) KILL COUNT is the three hundred and fifty-fifth video of The Kill Count.
Overview[]
In 1978, a masked serial child abductor nicknamed "The Grabber" prowls the streets of a Denver suburb. Siblings Finney and Gwen Blake live in the area with their abusive, alcoholic father. At school, Finney is frequently bullied and harassed. He has a friendship with a classmate, Robin, who fends off the bullies. A boy that Finney knew, Bruce, is abducted by the Grabber. Gwen, who has psychic dreams much like her late mother, dreams of Bruce's kidnapping. Detectives Wright and Miller interview Gwen at school, believing she has inside knowledge, but struggle to believe her claims. The siblings' father punishes Gwen for speaking with the detectives. Shortly after, the Grabber abducts Robin.
Days later, Finney encounters the Grabber and is kidnapped. He awakens in a soundproofed basement. On the wall is a disconnected black rotary phone that the Grabber says does not work. Later, Finney hears the phone ring and answers it. Bruce's ghost tells Finney about a floor tile he can remove to dig a tunnel to escape.
The police search for Finney is unsuccessful. The Grabber brings Finney food and leaves the door to the basement unlocked. Finney prepares to sneak out but is stopped by another boy on the phone called Billy. He explains this is a game that the Grabber plays, and he is waiting upstairs to attack Finney with a belt if he leaves the basement. Billy instructs him to use a cord Billy found to get out via the basement window. While climbing Finney breaks the bars on the window, preventing him from climbing back up. Gwen dreams of Billy being abducted and confides in her father about what is happening.
Wright and Miller speak to an eccentric man called Max who is staying in the area with his brother. It is revealed Finney is being held in Max's basement, which he is unaware of, and the Grabber is his brother. Finney speaks to another one of his victims, Griffin, on the phone. Griffin shows Finney a combination of a lock and informs him that the Grabber has fallen asleep upstairs. Finney sneaks upstairs and unlocks the door but the Grabber's dog alerts him of Finney's escape. Finney flees down the street but is recaptured.
Finney answers the phone to hear another victim, a punk called Vance whom Finney was scared of. Vance informs Finney of a connecting storage room he can escape through if he breaks a hole in the wall and exits through the freezer on the other side of the wall. Finney creates a hole with a toilet tank cover and enters the back of the freezer only to discover that the freezer door is locked. The phone rings one more time with Robin at the end of the line. He comforts Finney and encourages him to finally stand up and fight for himself. He instructs Finney to remove the phone receiver and pack it with the dirt he had dug up to use as a weapon.
Gwen dreams of Vance's abduction and discovers the property of the Grabber. She finds the house and contacts Wright and Miller. Max realizes Finney is being held in the house and rushes to the basement to free him, only for his brother to kill him with an axe. The police rush to the house that Gwen found but find it empty. In the basement, they find the buried bodies of the Grabber's victims. The Grabber attacks Finney with the axe, but Finney manages to trip the Grabber with the cord, causing him to fall into the tunnel Finney dug, where the Grabber breaks and traps his ankle in the window bars placed at the bottom. The ghosts taunt the Grabber over the phone, and Finney kills The Grabber by breaking his neck with the phone cord. Finney distracts the guard dog with meat from the freezer and escapes the house using the combination he learned. Finney exits the house across the street from the gravesites where he reunites with Gwen and the police rush to the property. The siblings' father arrives and tearfully begs forgiveness for his earlier treatment of them. Back at school, a confident Finney sits next to his crush in class.
Deaths[]
Counted Deaths:[]
- Bruce Yamada - Kidnapped and murdered offscreen - 39 mins in
- Billy Showalter - Kidnapped and murdered offscreen - 45 mins in
- Griffin Stagg - Kidnapped and murdered offscreen - 1 hr 8 mins in
- "Pinball" Vance Hopper - Kidnapped and murdered offscreen - 1 hr 11 mins in
- Robin Arellano - Kidnapped and, you guessed it, murdered offscreen - 1 hr 19 mins in
- Max Shaw - Axed in head by The Grabber - 1 hr 27 mins in
- The Grabber - Strangled, neck snapped with phone cord - 1 hr 32 mins in
Non-Counted Deaths:[]
- Mrs. Blake - Commited suicide, mentioned.
- Ten Frogs - Killed offscreen, dissected in science class
Trivia[]
- In the 2023 Dead Meat Horror Awards, this film was nominated for:
- Best Supporting Performer (Madeline McGraw as Gwen)
- Best Original Film
- Best Villain (The Grabber)
- On November 11th, 2022, the Kill Count got blocked.
- On the same day, director Scott Derrickson, writer and producer C. Robert Cargill and founder of Blumhouse Productions, Jason Blum helped James get the Kill Count released.
- On November 13th, 2022, the Kill Count is now available.
- This is the 3rd and 4th kill count to feature Ethan Hawke and James Ransone respectively.
- This is the second movie where all of the silhouettes were specialized, the first is Stitches.
- This is the 11th Kill Count where there was no Dull Machete awarded.
- This was number 5 on trending.
- This marks the first Kill Count someone other than James A. Janisse died in the numbers gag.
- Prior to November 26th 2022, this Kill Count wasn't available on the Kill Count playlist.
- James mistakenly said that James Ransone was last seen on The Kill Count as adult Eddie Kaspbrak in It: Chapter Two, even though he was last seen as Deputy So & So in Sinister 2.
- Director Scott Derrickson confirmed this film to be set in the same universe as V/H/S/85.