New horror from Sinister and Doctor Strange director gets a release date

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Scott Derrickson created The Black Phone based on a Joe Hill story

Scott Derrickson on the set of Doctor Strange
(Image credit: Marvel Studios)

The director of Doctor Strange and Sinister's new movie The Black Phone will hit theaters on January 28 next year. Based on a short story by horror author Joe Hill (son of Stephen King) the movie will star Sinister's Ethan Hawke. 

The film's synopsis reported by Deadline suggests the script is sticking close to the short story source material. 

"The film is about Finney Shaw, a shy but clever 13-year-old boy who is abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of little use. When a disconnected phone on the wall begins to ring, Finney discovers that he can hear the voices of the killer’s previous victims. And they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney."

The movie will reunite Derrickson with writer C. Robert Cargill, who wrote the screenplay for the film and has worked with Derrickson in the past. The cast also includes Jeremy Davies, who gamers might recognize as the voice of Baldur from God of War. 

The horror film is the biggest project Derrickson has linked to since stepping away from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as a director, but he is still attached to it as an executive producer. Last year, he was reportedly set to direct the Labyrinth sequel, but there has been no further news regarding if the project is still happening. 

The Black Phone debut in theaters on January 28, 2022, but will you wait you can check out our picks for the best horror movies while you wait. 

Stephanie Williams

Stephanie is a comic book historian and pop culture critic for publications including SYFYFANGRRLS, Marvel, The A.V. Club, Nerdist, Den of Geek, and Rotten Tomatoes. Stephanie is also a comic creator with three ongoing webcomics, Parenthood Activate!, But What If Though?, and Living Heroes. She made her Marvel debut with a short story featuring Monica Rambeau in Marvel’s Voices: Legacy. She recently made her DC Comics debut in Wonder Woman Black and Gold #2 and is co-writing the Nubia and the Amazons miniseries.