Looking for a spooky flick that you can stream from the comfort of your home? There’s a movie that’s getting quite a bit of buzz and it just so happens to be set in the Denver area.

Originally released in 2021, but released on a larger scale in the United States last June, The Black Phone has gotten rather high ratings for a horror film – 82 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. After making 10-fold of the movie’s budget in the box office, its popularity has continued to rise thanks to its presence on the Peacock streaming platform.

Starring Ethan Hawke, the film covers a series of fictional kidnappings that take place in an unnamed Denver suburb in 1978. While the kidnappings featured in the film are fictional and not based on a specific case, the vibe of the movie captures the terror that surrounded the child abductions of the era, as well as the popularization of the ‘serial killer’ as a villain.

It’s difficult to watch The Black Phone and not draw lines between the Atlanta child murders of 1979-1981 or the Detroit-area Oakland County Child Killer cases of the 1970s. From the public’s surprise of how such horrific crimes are taking place in a tight-knit community to the way panic spreads, The Black Phone does a good job of showing what life may have been like during this transitional era when the American suburb moved away from a time of innocence.

I’m not going to sit here and write that this is the best horror movie I’ve ever seen, but I will say that it’s worth watching if you’re a fan of the genre and looking for something spooky this Halloween season. Is it memorable? Definitely. Is it unique? For sure. Does it have some moments where your palms will sweat? Mine did.

Falling somewhere between a true crime thriller and a supernatural slasher flick, while also featuring Mile High City suburban life as a key aspect of the setting, The Black Phone is a film that is sure to keep Coloradans at the edge of their seats.

Find the trailer below. Note, this film is rated ‘R’ and viewer discretion is advised:

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