‘The Black Phone’ Director Scott Derrickson Reveals a Last-Minute Change to the End

Making a horror film about a sadistic child killer could be a challenge in and of itself,

but The Black Phone co-writer and director Scott Derrickson said there was

one scene that was particularly difficult to execute.

In one upsetting moment, Terrence Blake (Jeremy Davies), the alcoholic father

of missing child Finney (Mason Thames), whips his daughter, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw).

That one was probably the one that I felt the most nervous about,” Derrickson

I chose the kitchen that I chose because it had a long counter. I realized you

could really go too far with a scene like that very easily, and an audience can turn on a movie.

I wanted them to be disturbed and upset by it, but I didn’t want them to turn on it.”