The Black Phone: The Killer Is Inspired By A Real Serial Killer? Does Real Killer Really Exist!
The ruthless kidnapper of The Black Phone kids wreaks havoc in a US town north of Denver in 1978. Although there are many supernatural elements in the story, Scott Derrickson’s horror strikes and conquers also for the high degree of verisimilitude with which tells the terrifying situation of a boy kidnapped and locked in the basement by a man whose intentions he does not know. But Finney is all too aware of his deeds.
Finney Shaw (Mason Thames) is Black Phone’s teenage protagonist who finds himself in this dire situation. To help him there is only a black phone that rings and puts him in contact with the previous victims of the kidnapper, who try to give him a hand. Finney has already witnessed the disappearance of some boys, including a bully who harassed him and a friend who stood up for him. None of the missing have ever returned, so he knows his life is at stake.
The Black Phone: The Killer Is Inspired By A Real Serial Killer?
The story told in The Black Phone is the fruit of the imagination of Joe Hill, the brilliant writer of comics and horror novels, lately much loved by Hollywood, who has made several adaptations of his works. The Black Phone is a short story dating back to 2004 and contained in a collection he wrote. The story is a bit different from the film: in fact, here the kidnapper wears a demonic mask and acts as a magician, while in the original he was a clown.
If you thought about Pennywise, you got it right: Joe Hill read It as a kid and was fascinated (and terrified) by it. Not only that: he is the son of writer Stephen King. However, the main inspiration for the Black Phone killer comes from a terrible news story well known in America: John Wayne Gacy’s trail of dead barbarians. Gacy is one of the serial killers who terrorized the United States in the 1970s (the same period in which the film is set). Between 1972 and 1978 he killed 33 young boys, whose ages ranged from 14 to 30 years. Gacy worked as a clown at children’s parties and his character was called Pogo. In 2004, when looking for inspiration for his evil protagonist, Hill thought of Gacy, also inspired by his way of getting rid of the dead bodies of the victims:
I was thinking about a certain type of child killer and I was reminded of John Wayne Gacy, who was a part-time clown for work. I think that was the killer I modeled my killer on.
However, between the story and film, many things have changed, including the occupation of the serial killer. Additionally, Ethan Hawke said he worked on the character without being inspired by any actual killer, so the ties between Gacy and the Kidnapper are weakened.
Does The Black Phone Tell a True Story?
No, the story is the brainchild of writer Joe Hill. He was partly inspired by serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who killed over 30 boys in the 1970s, to create his evil killer.
Did The Black Phone Serial killer exist?
No, but it’s partly inspired by John Wayne Gacy, who killed over 30 boys in the 1970s.
