NSFW CONTENT PAST THIS POINT

i remember taking my best friend to watch the black phone with me and i was thirsty for the grabber literally the entire time so this page is dedicated to him.

yes i need mental help i know

the grabber (albert shaw) is such a fascinating character to me. i love abnormal psychology, and above all i like to know what makes people tick. very little information is given regarding al's childhood, in fact, we don't know very much about him at all. so i feel very inclined to make my own analysis of him.

al is canonically 45, and since the black phone takes place in the 70's we can estimate that al was born in the 30's. i've noticed that a lot of people born between the 30's to the 60's had a very strict, authoritarian parenting style. i think that al had a rough childhood growing up, as did his brother max. we frequently see max engaging in drug usage and i also headcanon that he experiences psychosis/delusions as exemplified by his behavior. i believe that al coped with being cruelly punished as a child by taking it out on others. it explains why he likes to play "naughty boy." the boys he kidnaps that don't listen to him or dare to escape the basement are severely beaten. i hypothesize that this gives albert a sense of control that he lacked growing up. i'm not saying that his actions are justified, i'm simply doing the best i can to explain his motives.

we also see albert come down to watch finney and perhaps the other boys when he enters the basement. when finney questions why albert is down there with him, he simply says that he "just wanted to look at him." he also seems to be tearing up. ethan hawke said that he tried to play the grabber as if he were a wounded animal, which further gives weight to my theory of al having childhood trauma or some form of mental illness from his youth.

anyways, enough of my schizo rambling. i wanna fuck this guy. no, like seriously. ethan hawke does a tremendous job of portraying him. every time he came on screen my jimmies were severely rustled. it's not even funny. i want this man to kidnap me and keep me in his basement until i develop stockholm syndrome or some shit. i would let this dude strangle me with that belt if he wanted. holy fuck.

i've always had this fantasy of getting kidnapped by someone (who i guess is moderately attractive?) and being forced to stay in their room or basement or what have you. i'm super mentally unstable and chronically starved of love and attention so me developing stockholm syndrome is a given. like it's guaranteed. i wouldn't mind being the only female he's ever kidnapped idgaf. i think as i got more comfy with him he would gradually become more lax around me. i wanna be able to just lounge around the house with him or something. i wanna gain his trust just as much as he wants to gain mine. urghhhh....

here's some gifs and art that i've found of him while browsing. enjoy! or don't. i'm not your mom.