Black Phone 2 review

BLACK PHONE 2: 

THE GRABBER GOES FREDDY KRUEGER IN FUN HORROR FOLLOW-UP! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

Mason Thames and Ethan Hawke in Black Phone 2

 

            Ethan Hawke (Before Sunrise trilogy, Sinister, Boyhood) is back as The Grabber in Black Phone 2, the new horror film from Blumhouse and director Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister, Doctor Strange) and follow-up to his 2021/22 hit, The Black Phone. I really, really liked the first Black Phone movie and thought it was a genuinely frightening and gripping horror film about a kid trying to escape from an abductor’s basement. 

            I don’t usually get scared of horror movies that much, but anything involving child abduction is legitimately terrifying to me and while the movie does have a supernatural element to it via ghosts of the kidnapped/murdered children communicating through a broken phone on the wall, it is a realistic situation that can happen and has happened. Plus a memorable performance by Ethan Hawke as child abductor and killer, The Grabber who crafted a new horror icon out of this character. 

            It’s a solid movie that stood on its own…not sure why it needed a sequel though outside of the fact it was successful. I was also taken a back seat when the trailers revealed that The Grabber was going to be a ghost or demonic entity a-la Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street in this one which I felt ironically made him less scary than when he was alive. 

            Despite my initial skepticism, I was going to see this movie regardless and give my thoughts on it and…Black Phone 2 is fun. It’s nowhere near as frightening as its predecessor, but those looking to have a creepy good time at the movies for Halloween surely won’t be disappointed. 

            The film is set four years after Finney Blake (Mason Thames-How to Train Your Dragon (2025), Regretting You) killed The Grabber and follows him and his sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw-American Sniper, Toy Story 4, The Mandela Effect) who after the latter begins to have nightmares involving murders at a youth camp in the 1950s venture out to the camp during a snowstorm in order to figure out what happened. This all turns out to be a trap concocted by none other than The Grabber (Hawke) who is now a ghost and hellbent on causing as much pain to Finney as possible as revenge for killing him. 

            Finney, Gwen, and their friend Ernesto (Miguel Mora who previously portrayed The Grabber’s victim, Robin in the first film) uncover a secret regarding this camp and their family history as they face off against a killer who has grown more powerful in death. 

            The film also stars Demián Bichir (Alien: Covenant, The Nun, Godzilla VS Kong) as Armando, Jeremy Davies (Twister, Saving Private Ryan, Justice League Dark) reprising his role as Finney and Gwen’s father Terrence Blake, Arianna Rivas (Danger Force, Prom Dates, A Working Man) as Mustang, and Graham Abbey (Degrassi: The Next Generation, King John, Stay the Night) as Kenneth. 

            Overall, Black Phone 2 leans more into fun horror compared to its predecessor and doesn’t really have that blood pumping energy from the first, but it’s still a solid sequel and an enjoyable time at the movies. I personally preferred the tension of the first as that was like the ultimate “Stranger Danger” movie with Ethan Hawke’s Grabber being very unsettling in it, but I was entertained while watching this one. 

            The sequel definitely utilizes the supernatural element more with the sister who has all the dreams/visions, Gwen essentially being the protagonist while Finney is a supporting character. Basically the Nancy Thompson from A Nightmare on Elm Street of this movie and it works well enough. 

            It especially helps that Madeleine McGraw is excellent in the film, I thought she was a standout in the first, but this really is her movie. She has the snarky remarks, vulgarities, and tough as nails attitude that she had in the first while also selling the heartfelt and dramatic moments. 

            Mason Thames is also very good reprising his role as Finney though he’s not as focused on this time around and I like that Jeremy Davies is given more to do as Finney and Gwen’s father and actually plays a part in helping them stop The Grabber. Speaking of which, even in death (I’m talking about the character FYI!), Ethan Hawke is still great as The Grabber and has plenty of creepy moments throughout the film, but like I said, I thought he was much scarier when he was alive than when he became a Freddy Krueger clone. 

            I do really like how Gwen’s dreams are depicted with a very grainy, shot on film look (The movie even starts with the 70s-80s Universal logo in the beginning) which makes it easy to differentiate between the dream world and the real world. Honestly, it makes the dreams feel rawer and grittier, I thought that was a clever way of handling them. 

            The kills are bloody and fun, but a lot of the time they felt too reminiscent of A Nightmare on Elm Streetcomplete with a “If you get hurt/die in your dream, you get hurt/die in real life” sequence. We’ve seen ghosts/entities moving people around, tossing them, slamming them, and killing/wounding them in bloody ways many times before and while they’re done well here, there really isn’t anything special about them. 

            Black Phone 2 is a flawed but fun horror sequel that pales in comparison to its predecessor, but it offers enough thrills and mystery to make it an entertaining watch for the Halloween season. Pick up the phone and see for yourself.