The Black Phone

The Black Phone screens at the Ruiz Branch Library on Thursday, Oct. 1, as part of the library's Halloween kickoff movie night. It's a horror film with some local roots: the script comes from Austin's own C. Robert Cargill and his filmmaking partner Scott Derrickson.

If those names sound familiar, it's because they're the pair behind Sinister, the movie they used to convince Ethan Hawke to make his horror debut. They built enough trust with a horror-averse Hawke that he signed on here for his first fully-fledged villain, the Grabber. The character is described as the embodiment of all childhood fears: his face hidden, his voice reduced to a wheezy sing-song whisper, and his body transformed into a bulldozer. Reviewer Richard Whittaker called the performance one of Hawke's most excellent and unexpected.

The screening is at the Ruiz Branch Library, located at 1600 Grove in Austin South. It's a Thursday night, so it works as an early start to the Halloween season if you're looking to get into the spirit before the actual holiday hits. The movie is The Black Phone, and the date is Thursday, Oct. 1.