Black Phone 2
Four years after Finn (Mason Thame) managed to escape The Grabber (Ethan Hawke) by killing the serial killer, the fiend returns to torment Finn's sister Gwen (Madeline McGraw) with visions of three boys being stalked and killed at a Christian winter camp called Alpine Lake in "Black Phone 2."
Laura's Review: C+
Cowriter (with his "The Black Phone" collaborator C. Robert Cargill)/director Scott Derrickson took a Joe Hill short story and turned it into an effectively creepy chiller, a serial killer movie that was both rooted in 1970's reality and laced with supernatural overtones, not only in a disconnected phone relaying calls from victims to The Grabber's latest captive, but in the hero's sister, Gwen, who had visions in her dreams. So, how does the killer get brought back for a sequel? In a film that plays like "A Nightmare on Elm St." without the humor crossed with "The Shining." Derrickson's craftsmanship is still on display, Gwen's dreams portrayed with the dour graininess of an underground snuff film, the boys' murders horrifically gruesome and the sound design unsettling, the repetition of the word 'blood' buried in the mix, but the film becomes repetitious and attempts at family healing as regards alcoholic dad Terrence (Jeremy Davies) are feeble.
An opening title credit reveals it is 1957 and we are in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. A young woman (Anna Lore, "Final Destination: Bloodlines") is in a phone booth in the snow, but we only hear her side of the conversation. She has found the phone number she is calling carved in the ice. Jumping forward to 1982, a crowd of kids has gathered to watch Finney ruthlessly punch a new kid. Once Gwen pulls him away, he explains that the kid had recognized him as The Grabber's killer, telling him he 'didn't look that tough.' Gwen is experiencing a series of increasingly terrifying dreams, but while Finney comforts her, he doesn't want to talk about any of it, taking refuge in weed the way dad once downed booze. He's more vocal about Gwen's classmate and Grabber victim's brother Ernesto's (Miguel Mora, who played Ernesto's older brother, Robin, in the first film) interest in his sister, declaring the boy's offer of Duran Duran tickets a date.
In her first dream, Gwen will see a little boy (Simon Webster, TV's 'From') wearing a yellow parka in snowy woods, being stalked, then slaughtered, by a long-haired man bearing a knife. She gets out of bed and sleepwalks, Finney finding her at their open front door, her skin cold to the touch. After another dream, he'll find her in The Grabber's basement, where she'd picked up the phone and received the call we saw being placed in 1957. She recognizes the caller's voice. It's their mother, Hope, who had Gwen's same supernatural gift, but committed suicide years earlier. Gwen figures out that their mother once worked as a counselor at Alpine Lake, where that call was placed from, and tries to convince Finney to apply for jobs there. When she is about to head out with Ernesto instead, he reluctantly joins them, but they end up driving in a blizzard so fierce, a young woman on a horse, Mustang (Arianna Rivas, "A Working Man"), rides out to lead them in. They are welcomed by her uncle, Mando (Demián Bichir, "A Better Life"), who tells them they will be stranded for a few days and shows them to their bunks. This being a Christian camp, Gwen must sleep separately from her brother and Ernesto, and this being a horror movie, it's never suggested she might bunk in with, say, Mustang. There are two other people on site, married couple Ken (Graham Abbey) and Barb (Maev Beaty, "Beau Is Afraid") who work in the office and appear to be here only for Gwen to exhibit her talent for irreverent put downs, spitting out 'Have you always been such a sanctimonious twat?' to the aptly named Barb-call-me-Barbara.
Mando tells them that the phone in the phone booth stopped working decades ago, but when it rings in Finn's presence, his response is to pick up the receiver and mumble 'Sorry, I can't help you.' Meanwhile Gwen's dreams begin to seep into reality, The Grabber now determined to kill her while she's pinpointed his power lying in the three dead boys, Felix (Webster), Cal (Shepherd Munroe) and Spike (Chase B. Robertson), whose bodies have never been found, 'We're not supposed to be here' their constant lament.
Cargill and Derrickson work hard to tie generational trauma into their sequel, but most of what transpires can be seen coming, giving the film a 'hurry up and wait' feel. Thame, McGraw and Mora handily shoulder the film, Bechir a welcome addition, but other (undead) characters are under utilized or extraneous. The use of Super 8 and 16mm film give the film a retro, grainy vibe that is also eerily dreamlike (cinematography by Pär M. Ekberg), intensifying the special effects depicting various murders and The Grabber's assaults on Gwen. But in the end, "The Black Phone" already successfully mined a short story written by Stephen King's son. The sequel feels cobbled together from other horror films and King's books. Hopefully The Grabber's been dispatched to hell for the last time.
Universal releases "Black Phone 2" in theaters on 10/17/25.
