**Spoilers ahead for The Black Phone 2!!**
The Black Phone 2 is a supernatural slasher mystery that follows Finney (Mason Thames) and his sister Gwen (Madeline McGraw) four years after the former escaped The Grabber (Ethan Hawke). When Gwen begins experiencing dreams of three boys being stalked and killed at a winter camp, the sibling duo become determined to solve the mystery and confront a now dead and much more powerful version of the killer Finney put to rest years before.
Making a sequel is always a tricky task. Many fall into the trap of rehashing previous movies and lacking anything particulary meaningful beyond hollow fan service. Fortunately that is very far from the case with The Black Phone 2. This sequel is an emotionally mature, phenomenally performed and brilliantly directed piece of work, overflowing with creativity and providing a satisfying follow-up to the story and characters of the previous movie.
This movie has fascinated me since the first trailer. The idea of putting The Grabber in the role of a Freddy Krueger-esque slasher villain felt like an inspired choice, especially since the Elm Street franchise has been on ice for 15 years at this point. It would’ve been easy for this to result in a complete rip-off of the iconic dream slasher franchise, but Scott Derrickson’s unique vision puts a completely different spin on it — especially stylistically. The grainy Super 8 look which was utilised in the first movie returns here for the dream sequences and is supremely effective at creating an unsettling and nightmarish atmosphere (it also just looks really cool). It would also be silly of me not to mention the location and setting of the movie too, the aesthetic of blood in the snow has always been a favourite of mine and it worked wonders for this movie too. The atmosphere is further enhanced by Atticus Derrickson’s brilliant score, which is even more effective during the dream sequences.
Ethan Hawke’s despicable villain The Grabber is once again a highlight of the movie, and I truly believe this movie will cement the character as one of the greatest and hopefully most iconic modern horror villains. He’s even more terrifying here and even though an aspect of his backstory was revealed, I never felt as if the fear factor and mystique behind the character was ruined — a fate which many horror villains fall victim to. His design here is immaculate, the zombie look becoming instantly recognisable, and the character provides a lot of the cool visuals in the movie — everything about the ice skating, including the Curtains (1983) homage, was perfect.
The choice to place more focus on Gwen in this story was somewhat of a bold one considering Finney was unequivocally the main character of the first movie, but it paid off immensely. We still get a lot of Finney’s character and how he is managing the trauma from the first movie, but Gwen is undoubtedly a much bigger focus here, and the dynamic between the two of them gives the movie a lot of heart. Obviously it helps that the pair of actors give fantastic performances in their second outing.
Gwen’s relationship with her mother was hinted at in the previous movie, mostly to highlight that she got her abilities from her, and it kind of left some questions unanswered. That is rectified here, with a lot of emphasis placed on the mother and how she is tied to the current mystery. The reveal that Finney and Gwen’s mother did not commit suicide and that The Grabber killed her ties the protagonists to the villain in a much deeper way, providing so much extra weight to the confrontation at the end of the movie.
This reveal also brought about the first of two emotional moments that really hit hard — the scene involving Gwen, Finney and their father, who had come to rescue them and embarks on somewhat of a redemption arc here. Moments like the aforementioned scene give a lot of development and nuance to the character which could have easily been shuffled out of the way due to the difficult subject of abuse, but Derrickson and the team tackle it with a lot of respect in my eyes, giving him a sort of redemption while still acknowledging his past behaviours. The second moment to highlight is the emotional climax of the movie in which the mother speaks to Gwen from the titular black phone to provide peace to her children and help Gwen realise and accept that her abilities are not a curse.
As much as I enjoyed the movie I don’t think it is without fault. Some of the dialogue left a lot to be desired, especially the 80s slang that was dotted in presumably to highlight that the movie does in fact take place in the 80s. It just felt very forced and noticeable in a movie that didn’t feel like it went out of its way to make the dialogue feel older outside of those few words. Another small issue I had is that besides Mando, the side characters from the camp didn’t really add anything to the movie for me, maybe aside from a few funny moments here and there. They felt kind of inconsequential in the end though, and they didn’t even exist to bolster the kill count of the movie. In that vein of thought, the final confrontation with The Grabber felt like it could have been ever so slightly longer to make him feel like more of a physical threat since he went down quite easy. Or again, at least have him kill the meaningless side characters.
The Black Phone 2 was released to positive reviews and box office success, making a profit on its $30 million budget during the opening weekend alone. Personally, I think I prefer this sequel to its predecessor; not only does it improve on some of the first movies flaws but it just provides such an incredible atmosphere. From the visual aesthetic of the blood in the snow to the menacing presence of The Grabber, its hard to deny the effectiveness of it all. Derrickson’s sequel is a spectacular follow up to an already great movie and I certainly wouldn’t turn down another adventure following these characters.
9/10
