Ethan Hawke freak out

Universal Pictures unveiled a packed trailer for its upcoming Blumhouse horror thriller “The Black Phone” this past week, during a presentation to the annual convention of movie theater owners in Las Vegas.

Reuniting Ethan Hawke with his “Sinister” writer-director Scott Derrickson, the project is adapted from a short story by Joe Hill. Hawke delivers a bone-chilling performance as an unnamed villain, a character he said breaks with his “no bad guys” rule while introducing the clip.

“The Black Phone” follows an abducted boy “locked in a basement that’s stained with the blood of half a dozen other murdered children. In the cellar with him is an antique telephone, long since disconnected, but which rings at night with calls from the dead,” according to a synopsis of the short. So we’re already having fun.