In 2021, horror filmmaker Scott Derrickson channeled his Sinister style into one of the best movies of that year – The Black Phone. Even though the movie wrapped itself up nicely, Derrickson still apparently felt there was more story to tell, because now we’ve got Black Phone 2.
Set in 1982, Black Phone 2 picks up a few years after the events of The Black Phone. Finney (Mason Thames) is dealing with the psychological torment of life after escaping (and in the process killing) serial killer The Grabber (Ethan Hawke). His sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) is similarly tormented, still by the dreams that lead her to help rescue her brother. This time around, the dreams lead Gwen and Finney to a Christian youth camp in the Colorado mountains where they discover that, even in death, The Grabber is not done with them. And neither is The Black Phone.
Derrickson and his writing partner C. Robert Cargill use this opportunity with Black Phone 2 to tell more of The Grabber’s story, so the movie functions as both a sequel and prequel. It’s the continuing story of Finney and Gwen, but their journey to the camp winds up revealing the origins of The Grabber, and Gwen’s dreams at the camp uncover his first few victims. It’s an ingenious way to both move the story forward and look back at its beginning.
While The Black Phone was Finney’s story, Gwen takes the lead in Black Phone 2. Of course, Finn is there, just as Gwen was in the first movie, but the sequel uses more of Gwen’s psychic powers and allows her to become more of a central character than a supporting one. And both the character and Madeleine McGraw as an actor are here for it.
The first half of Black Phone 2 leans pretty hard into Derrickson’s Sinister roots, so it’s stylistically similar to The Black Phone. But once the plot shifts to the camp, it turns into a more surreal experience. It’s reminiscent of those late-eighties slasher movie sequels where the killers started becoming supernatural. In death, The Grabber turns into a Freddy Krueger-like entity. In fact, one scene is so much of an homage to A Nightmare on Elm Street that it’s almost a rip-off. But in the context of the movie and The Grabber’s new identity, it works. Very well, actually.
Which brings up to The Grabber himself. Like his apparent Freddy Krueger inspiration, he has seamlessly transitioned from child serial killer to spectral tormentor. He seems to have mastered his new reality and can invade not only his victims’ dreams but their waking experiences as well. Ethan Hawke is back, but between the horrifying mask and a crazy makeup job, he’s physically unrecognizable, relying only on his voice and body movements to terrify. The Grabber character that he created in The Black Phone is dialed up to eleven, and in the process, he’s become a new horror icon.
Black Phone 2 is more of a mystery than a horror movie. Gwen, Finney, and new friend Ernesto, who is Robin from The Black Phone’s little brother (and played by the same actor, Miguel Mora), need to solve the mystery of Gwen’s new dreams in order to free themselves from the paranormal grip of The Grabber. It’s like a Goosebumps version of Se7en. Only scarier. And despite that description being a little tame, the movie is anything but. Like The Black Phone, Black Phone 2 goes hard.
One thing of note – Black Phone 2 relies heavily on The Black Phone for its mythology, so if one has not seen the first movie, a lot of the sequel won’t make sense. It tries to organically explain things, but there’s only so much that can be done without feeling like the movie is spoon-feeding exposition. It’s a fine line, and Derrickson and Cargill do their best to make it natural, but the truth is – the viewer should watch The Black Phone before going into Black Phone 2. That’s if they haven’t already. Chances are, most people who are interested in Black Phone 2 are already caught up.
Black Phone 2 isn’t the same kind of movie as The Black Phone. Well, it is, but it’s more layered and complex, with more to think about. And more to think about means more to haunt the audience when it’s done. It’s not as overtly scary, but it’s just as disturbing. Whether there will be any more Black Phone movies or not probably depends on the box office performance of this one, but this does feel like a natural progression towards a franchise. And for Blumhouse, there are worse properties to franchise.
GRADE: B
Rating: R for language, gore, strong violent content, and teen drug use
Running Time: 1 hour 54 minutes
Release Date: October 17, 2025
