Black Phone 2
review by Bobby Blakey
Before director Scott Derrickson stepped into the MCU with Doctor Strange he made a name for himself in the horror genre directing Hellraiser: Inferno, Sinister, and more. In 2021 he teamed up with Ethan Hawke for the excellent The Black Phone that infused the slasher and supernatural to perfection. Now they are reteaming for the highly anticipated sequel Black Phone 2 co-starring Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Demián Bichir, Miguel Mora, Jeremy Davies, and Arianna Rivas. Could this next chapter bring more of the creepy fun or will it fail to pull the viewer into the van?
​
Black Phone 2 follows 13-year-old Finn who killed his abductor and escaped, becoming the sole survivor of The Grabber four years ago. But true evil transcends death … and the phone is ringing again. As Finn, now 17, struggles with life after his captivity, the headstrong 15-year-old Gwen begins receiving calls in her dreams from the black phone and seeing disturbing visions of three boys being stalked at a winter camp known as Alpine Lake. Determined to solve the mystery and end the torment for both her and her brother, Gwen persuades Finn to visit the camp during a winter storm. Together, she and Finn must confront a killer who has grown more powerful in death and more significant to them than either could imagine.
One of the best and creepiest aspects of the first film is the time and how easy it was to lure kids out and take them. As someone that grew up in that era it was a much more lax time and instantly hit that mark when watching it. I was worried that the supernatural element was going to diminish it but ended up being great. This new one was clearly stepping things up and going in a new direction, but would it lose that element of realism that is infused in the supernatural and the answer is no, as it becomes a different animal in a good way.
There are a lot of comparisons being made between the Grabber this time around and Freddy Krueger and they are on point, but it works. Since we have already had this element as part of the original film, it isn’t a huge
stretch to continue is with him now on another plane of terror. The story brings the whole cast back together with everyone evolved in different directions from PTSD trauma from Finn’s own kidnapping to a somewhat redemption arc for Jeremy Davies now clean and sober father. It also shifts the direction where the first film was about Finn and his sister secondary trying to use her gifts to find him to this time around more on her journey with Finn helping her.
The cast are all excellent with them bringing all the trauma and emotions needed to push this narrative forward. I loved that we got to deal with the trauma of the event Finn went through as often they breeze past that and only comes up when the horrors return as opposed to never leaving. Gwen is older and more mature with a deeper understanding of her abilities, and we follow her not only by understanding how to embrace them but use them to try to track and stop the now otherworldly version of The Grabber. These elements all work great with the new cast also bringing new levels of depth to the new tale and history of the Grabber and his crimes, but it’s Hawke who stole the show for me.
Ethan Hawke was all in for the original film with us only getting to see his whole face a few times outside of the now iconic mask. This time around he is even more insane and crazed with the mask only coming off to reveal more or a monster and yet another element of evolution of the character. His menacing and angry delivery of dialogue is perfect and fully gives this new version a new life and direction that could easily become yet another horror icon in the genre. They somehow made the already creepy iconic look even more scary this time around and his various actions made him a scary pleasure to watch.
The visuals and setting gave the film a bigger scope and creative aesthetic that made it all its own. The shift to the Christian camp in the mountains and surrounded by ice and snow was beautiful and lent to the new horrors they pushed along with it. Derrickson fully utilizes every element of it making the surroundings a character all its own that brings the scary back drop and bright beauty of it all. The switch in camera style during Gwen’s visions and dreams gave it an old school effect but also served as the perfect line between the real and other world. The slow transitions at tiems between the two keeps you connected to both worlds and in turn makes it something bigger.
I really liked this new direction honestly more than I thought I would. I am not a big fan of always finding out more about these maniacs as I find that more of the charm, but this works to the bigger narrative well. It serves the perfect ending to this tale while also setting the stage to bring him back in other ways should they decide to.
Decide for yourself and check out Black Phone 2 in theaters now.