#the grabber

[kookidough]

analysing vance hopper because he lives in my head 24/7 !

tw for like. literally everything the black phone covers!!!!!!

also there's some special effects gore rather far down in the post idk just i feel like i should warn you just in case

okay so before anyones like "but bee!!!! he only had 6 minutes of screen time in a 102 minute long movie!!!!! he was only on screen for 5.8% of the movie!!!!!" and to that i say i Know it was a real tragedy so a lot of this will be built on personal interpretation and subtext and stuff said behind the scenes and whatnot

so firstly i wanna rot about what his childhood/upbringing might've been like..... i havent quite decided on something definitive but i think we can take one look at his character and realise that is glaringly obvious he had a bad childhood, in one interview the actor that plays him (brady hepner) says "the background i had set up for vance is that the reason he was the way he was is his home life was fairly difficult, you know maybe his dad was either not there for him or he wasn't supportive, maybe he was fairly abusive, and so that creates a hair trigger sense of rage in vance" hair trigger meaning his patience is literally as thin as a strand of hair it does Not take a lot for him to snap

there more to it after that which i'll get into soon but yea thats the gist of it it's clear he had absent/neglectful/abusive parents and that would certainly contribute to why he's so angry all the time, maybe acting so explosive was the only way to get his parents' attention, either good or bad, so he just internalised that. obviously rage and anger issues like vance's lead to violence (not in all cases but in his case it does) and i think a neglectful and abusive upbringing would obviously expose him to more violence than a normal childhood would, therefore normalising it and desensitising him to it, whether he's seeing it play out in his own home and/or on television or something like that (because i doubt his parents would be the kind to monitor what content he's viewing)

i feel like he has little control over his life and that only adds to his anger, which in his case leads to a fight when his buttons are pushed too many times. i think he probably takes great pride in being the toughest in town and whatnot and winning fights and being perceived as strong and scary is good to him and helps him regain control/power, something he doesnt have at home. the rest of the quote from the interview i mentioned earlier states "this pinball machine could have been the only thing that he has in his heart that's like, good, like 'holy cow i did this, i set the score,' so when someone comes along and messes it up for him, it takes away the only thing that he has. i think that that's when he switches to a 'now you're gonna pay for that'"

similar to what i said about fighting, the pinball machine and his high score is something he has control over and its an important part of his reputation/image like. hes literally pinball vance ! and the whole thing about that high score being the "only thing he has in his heart that's good" implies that hes. well. pretty shit at everything else, which is pretty much canon if you remember that gwen said vance was held back twice in school. makes me think that while he's not the brightest in school he's certainly street smart

moving onto ermmmmm him getting kidnapped era because im sure youre wondering "well bee if he's so street smart then why did he get kidnapped" so may i raise two theories (this is. literally all i got and its not even concrete, me and my friend gray (@staggersz) tried to figure out how this could even happen and this is the most plausible thing we've got. so shoutout to him real quick he has had to deal with me being unnormal about vance for like a year and a half thanks king couldnt have done all this without my rotting buddy)

so either he got taken by surprise (most likely option) or vance's trust was gained first via getting given quarters at the pinball machine and small talk and shit like that but this is unlikely because i feel like it'd take a loooooong time for someone like vance to trust a some random stranger adult man when he clearly has issues with trusting and respecting people older than him and people with authority (e.g. cops, his parents, or school officials) so yea being taken by surprise would probably be the most realistic option, i always see people on tiktok being like "how did the grabber kidnap vance hes so strong!!!!" dude its a 15 year old boy against like. a 45 year old man who's already claimed two lives its really not gonna be a fair fight here

before i get into the next part i wanna quickly address a theory i absolutely Hate and it is so easily disproven and that is the theory that vance is the grabber's son or is related to him in some other way and i see it Far too often on tiktok and i HATE it. from what ive seen this all stems from his dream sequence where he kicks open the fence to albert's house and, presumably, goes inside after being dropped off by the police after the grab n go fight. idk if some people just straight up didnt realise this but clearly in real life he is going to his Own House??? in the dream it's only albert's house because this is how he chooses to show gwen the house she's trying to find her brother in, the house that he himself was killed in??? i hate the theory i hate it sm

the dream sequence itself is interesting though as the ghosts seem to only be able to conjure up what theyve seen in real life (like how bruce can picture the outside of the house and show that to gwen but the house number is all flipped and not right beause he doesnt know it) so vance being able to picture the house and the number and the gate and every detail would imply that hes seen it before, but im going to explain that away as either he got out once before like with finney's failed escape attempt, or the house is most likely on the route he walks to school or the grab n go or something and he hasnt actually been there prior to being kidnapped

mini rant over now onto being kidnapped i guess, so i used the missing posters to try and estimate a timeline of how long each ghost boy would've been in the basement for (although the missing posters are notoriously unreliable for details such as looks/height/age/etc, the dates seem to all line up). so we know the order is griffin, billy, vance, bruce, robin, finney, right?? if we use the poster date then billy was taken on may 4th, 1976, a month and two days after griffin was taken (april 2nd 1976). vance was taken on september 23rd 1977, almost a full year later (stay with me im going somewhere with this), and after that bruce was taken on july 18th 1978, again almost a full year later

its established in the movie that the grabber stalks his victims before he takes them (canon because we literally see the van watching finney and gwen as they walk home from school early on in the movie) but we dont know how long he does this for since griffin/billy and robin/finney were taken such short distances apart and then the others were taken such long distances apart, also it's possible he could stalk his next victim while the previous one is still alive, etc etc lots of confusing factors, but if i've done the maths right then the absolute maximum time vance could've spent down there is 9 months and 25 days, or 298 days, so erm . let that sink in !

howeverrrr in the movie gwen states that vance went missing "last spring" and september is definitely not in spring, meaning he could've been down there for a year or even longer. an explanation or excuse i could think of for the movie and the missing poster saying different things (other than the missing posters being known for some areas being wildly inaccurate) is that maybe he was taken in spring but wasnt labelled as officially missing until september, when he was properly linked to griffin and billy's similar disappearances and the mysterious grabber? i can imagine it'd be very easy for law enforcement, especially in the 70s, to dismiss someone like vance as a runaway until they get solid evidence that he was taken. idk though thats just my personal excuse / angsty headcanon for the difference in information

not sure what exactly killed him but we do hear from vance himself that "he took his time with me" so it was probably blood loss from a variety of injuries, if we look at him in his ghost scenes we can see his hair is absolutely covered in blood which indicates head injury, he clearly has a broken nose and bruising around his eyes as a result of it, he has these deep cuts on his abdomen area (apologies for the image quality but i believe they're like. sfx pieces you would wear under clothing)

and he also has just like. minor bruising (like the fingerprints on his arm) and other random blood splatters on his face and neck (assuming the blood down his neck comes from wherever he was bleeding on his head) so Yeah overall very unpleasant way to die obviously

okay now the part thats actually in the movie and it only took me 13 paragraphs to get here: vance as a ghost!! first thing i wanna point out is appearance wise i just want to say that when he's a ghost he's missing his choker and that fact Pains me. anyway personality-wise i feel like being violently murdered has, understandably, kicked his rage up to like. the highest level it could possibly go. he's insanely snarky and downright rude to finney on the phone, showing no empathy to the fact that finney is literally in the exact situation he was in

i feel like the whole "this is the nightmare end of your pathetic little life" and "if you knew what you had coming, you'd be fucking terrified" thing is definitely to scare finney on purpose and to get him to do something, vance might as well have just told him he's never going home cuz thats how it came across LMAOO, it is startling though because vance is clearly speaking from experience, that he was literally fucking terrified, and he is warning finney in his own weird way

the thing i think sets vance apart from the other ghosts is that while he does help finney, he does it for a different reason than they do. the other ghosts want finney to escape, to get out, to be free, to live, but personally i dont think vance cares about that. the only thing he wants is for albert shaw to be dead, for someone to seek vengeance, to do what vance couldn't. vance doesn't care if it's bruce or robin or finney or whatever boy could've come after that, he doesnt care as long as that man gets what he deserves after what he put vance through, and i see this through the scene at the end of vance's call where finney thanks him for his help and vance says, and i quote, "helping you? this isn't about you, fuck him! and apologies for being repetitive but to me it just literally proves that to vance, this isnt about finney or his escape, its just about revenge

we dont get to find out what happens to the ghosts once the credits have rolled, and i dont think we quite know enough about tbp's version of ghosts to guess what theyre up to, but i have a few theories :3 maybe theyre no longer bound to those two houses and they can now go anywhere they want in town? or maybe since their shared goal of stopping albert has been achieved, the ghosts can finally pass on to whatever is waiting for them next. i dont think vance would be content to pass on that quickly or easily as anger lingers, but i hope he'd be able to let go of it eventually, and hey we might find out in the sequel. i pray it mentions him cuz i will just die if it doesnt

sometimes, ok thats a lie, frequently i think about an au where he survived or escaped or whatever but ohhhh boy this post is already a train wreck so that au would deserve its own essay of a post :3 if u actually genuinely read this far then Wtf thanks for reading the ramblings of an absolute madman, only pure delusion could get like 20 paragraphs about a guy with 6 minutes screentime but hey thats how i roll, thanks again to my pal gray for letting me rot and thank u to my other pal ana for also enduring all this rot

hope u enjoyed my interpretation of vance hopper im going to crawl in a hole now and probably brainrot some more, thanks again for ur time :3

[bbreakingbenjamin]

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦 😂☠️🗡️

[sweeetestcurse]

Ethan Hawke as The Grabber in The Black Phone 04/??

[slasher-male-wife]

Slashers when you succumb to Stockholm syndrome

So @slasherhaven wrote for this idea before but I wanted to write for it too. I didn't really reference their head canons too much just to make sure that I'm not copying them but I did get the idea from them. These are in the form of little drabbles because I liked them better than head canons

Includes: The Grabber, Brahms Heelshire, Pyramid Head and Bo Sinclair

Warnings: Manipulation, kidnapped reader, Stockholm syndrome

The Grabber

When he opens the basement door he finds you asleep, like he planned to find you. He's been watching you sleep since you first came here a month ago. He carefully shuts the door and makes his way over to the floor by the bed. He watches your chest move up and down as you sleep. A few minutes later he sees your eyes open. But instead of screaming or moving away from him, you smile. Catching him off guard.

"You came to check on me?" You whisper to him. It takes a few moments before he nods, "I'm glad you care about me. I like that." Slowly he realizes what's happening with you, a smile spread across his masked face.

"Of course I care about you dove. I took you because I care about you. I'm glad you know that I care." He moves in closer to you and strokes your hair out of your face. You shut your eyes again and drift back to sleep. He knows you don't really love him, but that doesn't matter. You think you love him, and you won't be leaving anytime soon.

Brahms Heelshire

When Brahms wakes up to your voice he's scared at first. Quickly sitting up in his bed.

"Good morning Brahms," You say with a smile on your face, "I hope you're ready to start your day." He's caught off guard by the shift in your attitude. He had to drag you everywhere with him just a few days ago. But now, two months into knowing the real Brahms, you're actually following the schedule. He can't see any signs of you crying either. He thinks that you've finally accepted life here with him.

"I am Y/n. I'm glad to see you finally happy."

"Of course Brahms. Now let's get changed then we can eat." He nods getting out of bed while you pull out his new clothes. He could get very used to this.

Pyramid Head

After having to leave to deal with some intruders Pyramid Head returns to the building that he's kept you in for a few months now. When he walks in he notices you're still not fighting him like you were before. He unties your hands from a radiator that he keeps you attached to while he's gone and you don't try to run away from him.

He steps away from you to see if you'll try to run then but you don't.

"I'm not going to leave you," You say to him, "You're keeping me safe and alive and I don't want to ruin that. You walk over to him and wrap your arms around his torso, "I promise I won't leave."

Pyramid head is very confused about this but he doesn't question you on it. He simply puts his arms lightly around you too and hugs you back. He doesn't care why you changed like this all of the sudden, he just cares that you're finally trusting him.

Bo Sinclair

It's been months since you first came to Ambrose. You gave up on fighting Bo awhile ago and now you're locked inside the house while he's gone. But when he came home today he found you cooking dinner for him in the kitchen.

"Darlin'?" He asks. You used to tell him not to call you that and you never responded to it but today you turn and look at him with a smile.

"Hi Bo. I thought I would make dinner for you since you're so busy today, I hope you don't mind."

"Not t'all Y/n," He has an idea of what's going on with you but he doesn't want to really say its Stockholm syndrome yet. But when he puts his hands on your hips while standing behind you, and you hum out approval, he knows you're in Stockholm syndrome, but he doesn't care. You're finally accepting your new life here, and that's all he's ever wanted.

[sister-lucifer]

“guys please just hear me out” and it’s a photo of the greasiest grimiest most rat infested man you’ve ever seen

[batmansticklemonster]

Look what I made 🙂

[wildroseanddeadlyscent]

“I love slasher movies!”

(Meaning: I want to get fucked by them)

[e-van-halen]

I better be the first person to make this

[zanephillips]

The Black Phone (2021) dir. Scott Derrickson

[talkaboutaspirtbox]

The best scene in The Black Phone was the end scene where Finney killed The Grabber and the phone rang and Finney held to to The Grabber's ear and all the ghosts started parroting things back

[rottedmolarx]

im sorry this needs to be said, ive already seen one too many adults simping for this boy.

Vance Hopper is a minor. The actor who plays him, Brady Hepner, is also a minor. He is 16. don’t be disgusting.

even if you are also a minor, you shouldn’t write smut or any other erotic works about this character or actor.

[theprincessofthemidwest]

The Grabber tryna lure in Finney

[sweeetestcurse]

Ethan Hawke as The Grabber in The Black Phone 03/??

[lussiane333]

I'm not saying I have a type but... I do.. 🤰🏻

[mcllymcdclly]

Unfiltered black phone icons !

Use however you want juts give me credit !

Request?: by anonymous

[viscerax]

Pinball Vance (Vance Hopper x Reader)

Pairings- Vance Hopper x Reader

Warnings- mentions of violence, canontypical Vance behavior

Tags- fluff, hurt/comfort if you squint, reader kinda short L, reader kinda has a crush on him

The bustling noise of the Grab N Go market flooded your sense the moment you opened that door. Your father had given you a bit if spare change for helping unloading the moving truck, just enough to get a bottle of soda and some candy. Your list was short and simple, and yet, it had taken you nearly 5 minutes just to find the soda and make a selection. Ad you stood in front of the big freezer doors, eyes scanning the rows upon rows of different kinds of pop, you heard the doorbell of the market ring, which wasn't particularly weird, but what was weird was the kind of quiet aura that washed over the crowd for a moment, as if they were waiting for something.

The silence halted after a few seconds, and the store began to be filled with life again. Just as this happened, you made your decision to go with the last bottle of sprite on the very top shelf. You extended your arm, stood on your tip-toes, and even jumped a few times, but despite your best efforts, you couldn't reach. You looked around, hoping for some kind of step-stool or a way to climb the shelf, but you didn't see anything.

The only people nearby was a group of boys, one with red curly hair, one with brunette almost afro-like hair, and one, who seemed to be the leader, with flat, greasy brown hair. To your right was a boy with blonde curly hair which rested perfectly on his shoulders, crowning his head almost like a halo. He was hunched over a pinball machine, a concentrated look on his face and his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth. You decided that maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to interrupt him.

One of the boys, the leader of the group of three, must have noticed your struggle because as soon as you looked back at the shelves, he was next to you, giving you a smile that seemed slightly off.

"You need some help there?" The boy looked at you and cooked his head to the side. You cast one glance to the boy by the pinball machine before looking back and nodding, giving the boy a warm smile. You pointed to the sprite, which he easily retrieved. He noticed your lingering glances to the blonde boy and shook his head. "Thats Pinball Vance Hopper. I wouldn't mess with him. He's kind of an asshole. I've seen him beat up 4 kids at once in under 4 minutes. It was kind of scary." He led you to the counter, taking out some of his own money. "I'll pay." He looked to his left and made eye contact with his ginger friend. There was a kind of look exchanged between the two that made you feel uneasy, but perhaps you were just overthinking.

You followed the boy to the counter and just outside, the summer heat hitting you like a truck the moment the doors closed behind you. The brunette opened the bottle and just before he handed it to you, splashed the bottle all over the front of your shirt, which was new. The stickiness immediately made you cringe. You just stood there for a second, sprite dripping from your face and making small splashes on the floor. The three boys sat there and stared at you, chuckling at your expression. You glared at them in anger, but they didn't seem to find you very threatening.

The leader of the gaggle grabbed the collar of your shirt and pushed you backwards, causing you to stumble and fall backwards onto the hot pavement.

You hissed, gritting your teeth as the boys stood over you, laughing and landing a kick or two in your side. You winced and looked to your left, spotting a jagged pebble. You grabbed it and threw it as hard as you could at the gingers forehead.

You watched as he stumbled back, hand cupping his forehead, which began to trickle a small stream of blood.

"Fuck off, or else you two fuck-faces are next." You blew a huge wad of spit at the leader of the group.

The boy wiped the spot off of his face, a deep anger burning in his eyes. You took the opportunity to quickly stand up, taking a fighting stance and preparing to take a blow as the curly haired boy aimed for your stomach. He was surprisingly weak. You quickly returned the punch, landing it square in the middle of his face.

The boy felt a warm stream of blood trickle down his face. Your knuckles stung a bit, but the adrenaline overpowered the pain.

The lead boy snuck up behind you, putting you in a headlock while the other boys landed a few punches on you.

By now a crowd had formed to watch you get your ass totally beaten. You kicked and struggled against the boy who had you in a headlock, but he overpowered you.

After a good minute of beatdowns, he let go of you, causing you to stumble and fall down on the pavement again. This time, the leader straddled you and landed one punch square in the middle of your face. A burning sensation ran through your entire face, and another stream of blood began pouring out of your left nostril. You watched in fear as the boy pulled his fist back to punch you again, and you closed your eyes, bracing for the pain that would soon come, but when it didn't, you opened your eyes to find the boy being thrown off of you by the blonde boy you had seen earlier, Vance if you remembered correctly.

Vance lifted the boy into the air by the collar of his shirt before throwing him onto the floor. "You distracted me from my game you fucking dick-weed!" He spat, getting on top of him and landing blow after blow onto the boy.

By now you had just barely recovered. You weren't exactly used to getting into fights. You watched the fight between Vance and the group of boys, and barely two minutes later, the boys had either retreated or lay on the floor, blacked out. Vance looked back at you, and for a moment you were worried that you would meet the same fate.

But then his expression morphed ever so slightly.

The noise of police sirens brought your attention away. The crowd began to scatter and Vance reached his hand out to you, quickly pulling you onto your feet.

Before you could even process what was going on, he grasped your hand tightly and began darting off behind the store.

You struggled to run behind him, the loss of blood mixed with the heat and stickiness of the sprite began to disorientate you, making it difficult to even walk without stumbling.

Why was he taking you with him? Was he going to finish you off so.ehwere else? Was he going to turn you into the cops and blame it all on you?

Much to your relief, the two of you came to a stop behind a building, next to a trash can. You felt your legs wobble beneath you. Vance helped you sit down before looking around the corner, no sign of the police in sight.

Now that the adrenaline had worn off, all of the pain suddenly hit you like a truck. You wiped your nose with the bottom hem of your shirt, blood streaking the bran new white fabric.

You felt like crying. All you wanted to do was curl up in a ball and cry. You couldn't tell if it was from the pain, or embarrassment, or the frustration that came with ruining your brand new clothes.

Vance looked over and noticed the tears pricking at your eyes. He crouched down in front of you and grabbed a napkin from his pocket, dabbing it under your nose to wipe away the blood. You winced with every time the napkin made any contact with your nose.

Vance threw the napkin off to the side and tilted his head. "Why are you crying? Did you see how beat their asses got? I got 'em pretty good for you. I don't blame you for losing. Those pussies played dirty, ganging up on you like that." Vance scowled. "But don't worry, I beat the shit out of them, so I doubt they'll try to pick on you again. Serves those fuckers right for starting a fight when I'm so close to beating my high-score."

Vance seemed to mostly be talking to himself at this point, but it slightly consoled you.

"Oh, and by the way, you're welcome. Those dumb ass police probably would've thought you had done it if I just left you there. So I think you owe me a favor." Vance smirked and sat down in front of you, knees loosely scrunched towards his chest.

You observed the boy in front of you. You had to admit, he was quite attractive, even covered in dirt and blood. You watched as he observed his bloodied knuckles, his baby blue eyes seeming unreadable.

You reached into your pocket and pulled out the change you were given for your soda. You dropped it into his hand.

Vance looked at you, a bit confused.

"For your troubles." You chuckled, giving him a weak smile.

Vance shook his head, giving you a bit of a confused look. "No- I was joking. Keep your money."

You shook your head. "Eh, I don't really need it. Keep it." You closed his fist with your hand.

Vance shrugged and pocketed the change, deciding not to pass up the opportunity for free money.

"You need someone to walk you home, new kid? Keep those fuckin' pests away for ya?" Vance stood up and helped you up, wiping the dirt off of the back of your shirt.

You began making your way back to your house, Vance staying pinned your side the entire time up until you were at your doorstep.

You looked back at Vance as you stood in your doorway, giving him a smile.

"Uhm, thank you. For saving me I guess." You shrugged and chuckled awkwardly.

Vance simply nodded and held out his hand, which you shook quickly before retracting your hand, a sort of heat spreading through your palm.

"We should hang out soon. Maybe I can come watch your pinball techniques sometime." You smiled and leaned against your doorframe.

Vance thought for a moment before shrugging. "If you want. Maybe we can go to an arcade or something instead of the Grab n Go."

You nodded. "Sounds nice. I'll look forward to it." You smiled, but suddenly an idea hit you. "Wait here." You quickly spun around, running into your house before returning with a few numbers scribbled onto it. "Call me when you want to hang out. I'm not to busy as of lately, so I should be free."

Vance nodded, folding the paper and sticking it in the pocket of his vest. He gave you a soft smile, the kind of smile you hadn't expected from him. "Sure, whatever. I'll see you later..."

"Y/n"

"See you later, Y/n" Vance waved and turned around, walking off.

You smiled and waved. "Bye, Vance!" Your smile brightened as you looked down at your hand, the warmth of his touch still spreading through it.

You were excited to hang out again.