It’s always a difficult thing to watch children in danger, which makes it a long trope in the history of horror. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. In both “The Black Phone” and Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece, “Shadow of a Doubt,” the tension and suspense are played against the threat of violence against kids.

In Hitchcock’s film, the would-be victim is young Charlie (Theresa Wright). She’s the favorite teenage daughter in the family and everyone adores her. She’s named for her favorite uncle (Joseph Cotten), and when he comes to stay with the family, things couldn’t be better. But Charlie starts to suspect that her namesake is hiding a terrible secret. In reality, he’s the Merry Widow Killer and wanted by the police. When he realizes she knows his secret, his thoughts turn to murder. The film plays out as a tense game of cat and mouse and is one of the finest thrillers Hitchcock ever produced. In fact, he regularly cited it as his own favorite work.