Headscratchers / The Black Phone

• How did the Grabber intend to beat Finn mercilessly in his kitchen while his brother is staying in his home? Just the sound of Samson barking is enough to wake Max up and have him questioning the noise. You'd think the sounds of screaming and crashing would provoke considerably more attention. Based on the Grabber's reaction to killing Max, he didn't want Max to discover his secret.
  • A couple theories: 1) Once Finn left the basement and entered the kitchen, the Grabber would smack him down, then throw him down the stairs and beat him in the basement. 2) The Brother had left for the night. He went to a party or out to score more drugs or something. 3) The Brother is a drug addict. He investigates, and the Grabber just tells him it's all in his head / it's the dog acting up.
• How did Finn continue holding onto his rocket flashlight after getting drugged unconscious, thrown into van, and dumped into a basement?
• The Grabber must be a certifiable badass. His MO leaves him open to being attacked by his victims at every turn. He gives his victims a few seconds warning before he enters the room by turning the lights on and then just opens the door, unarmed. His victims aren't restrained in any way, and he leaves them a number of items that can be used as improvised weapons, including glass bottles and the toilet lid. Presumably his victims could bum rush him with one of these weapons the moment he opens the door. Even when he lies in wait to beat his victims, he arms himself only with a belt. He's sure got a lot of confidence that he'll simply be able to outfight his victims toe-to-toe.
  • I mean, hes a muscular grown adult that's preying on kids. Hardly seems like a badass, more like a predator.
    • If the Grabber were preying on little kids, his MO would make sense, since his victims would present no physical threat to him as a fit adult. But instead, he preys on teen boys, and the film goes out of its way to show that two of them were accomplished street fighters, while a third was a tall, 17-year-old athlete. The film doesn't really seem to acknowledge the fact that the Grabber would have had to fight each of them toe-to-toe and not only win but avoid significant injury to complete his ritual. His angered reaction to getting cut by Finn even seems to suggest that he doesn't expect to get injured at all by his victims.
    • Finney, Bruce, and Robin are all thirteen-year-old boys according to the ages on their Wanted posters in-film, while Griffin might well be even younger. Even Vance (the most physically pugnacious of all the kids) looks to be fifteen, tops. While they're accomplished fighters for a bunch of middle schoolers, the Grabber is a well-built adult man intent on premeditated murder (and possibly rape) and he seems to favor blitz attacks, surprising his victims in order to overpower them rather than a fair fight toe-to-toe. It's an incredibly risky and reckless way of operating, but judging by the increasingly short periods of time between the abduction of his victims this guy is a rapidly decompensating mess even by 1970s serial killer standards.
    • He never surprises or blitz attacks his victims once he's got them in his room. It's quite the opposite. That's the whole point of this headscratcher.
    • The kids may be physically strong and athletic, but they are still kids. They were kidnapped, wake up in a strange basement, are completely disoriented and confused, then a tall guy in a terrifying mask casually comes down the stairs and taunts and teases them. the kids are scared out of their minds. We may not see a weapon, but the Grabber was probably carrying a knife the whole time. One of the kids makes a move: the Grabber now has permission to punish the kid. It also seemed to imply that at least Robin did try to fight back (he instructed Finn to get in close, attack, and get out, implying he learned the Grabber's style. His ghost also realized it would be best to have a weapon.) But of course, the Grabber has a knife and the will to kill.
  • All part of his little 'naughty boys' game, most likely. He leaves them potential weapons, the Schmuck Bait of the door being unlocked at night, and gives them a warning of his entry and starts off approaching them unarmed, likely in hopes that they will start fighting him. And then he can use that as his excuse for beating and killing the 'naughty boy', venting any rage The Grabber has onto the victim. It also plays into the 'breaking them mentally' part of his little MO. Giving them chances to think they've got a chance, only to overpower them in the end and making them feel hopelessness again.