Black Phone 2

When The Black Phone first released in late-2021, it felt like a terrific standalone horror film, with a beginning, middle, and end, that satisfied wholeheartedly and completely.

The film took a story written by Joe Hill (son of famous author Stephen King) and brought in horror maestro Scott Derrickson, and not only managed to help Joe Hill breakout from his father’s legacy with a real feather in his cap, but offered Scott Derrickson his second film added to the Nightmare Deck (sort-of my horror Hall of Fame for those who aren’t familiar with it – his other film Sinister had also previously been drawn). As a film, it was a major success, making a fantastic return on investment for Blumhouse, especially for an original film.

As positive as I was about the film, I couldn’t see a lot of options for how they would go about a sequel.

I was on the fence about whether a sequel would go well or not. The horror fan in me didn’t necessarily care, per se. Generally, I am of the belief that no sequel to a self-contained story needs to exist, but business is business and the right creative mind can always make it happen. A Nightmare on Elm Street is a prime example of that. A sequel never needed to happen. Nancy defeated Freddy Krueger in dramatic fashion. Still though, I couldn’t imagine how sad I would be if we never got the many sequels we did to A Nightmare on Elm Street, win, lose, or draw. Still, I had the memory of the sequel to Sinister and the bad taste it left in my mouth, so I had my skepticism of how it would all pan out.

I am happy to say that Black Phone 2 offers a bold, unique sequel to the original film, honoring the original in a way that acts as a direct follow-up to where Black Phone left off, yet also manages to take the characters in exciting new places.

Black Phone 2 is set shortly after the events of the original film, bringing back the core cast, as well as making a couple new additions like Demián Bichir (I mostly know him as the Cartel leader that Nancy married on Weeds, but he also had a lead role in The Nun).

As you might have already surmised from the comparisons I made earlier to A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Grabber is back and he is back under very different circumstances than the original film. The creators claimed the idea came from a simple question – “What if The Grabber called Finn from Hell?” With that, we are off to the races, with The Grabber, once again, wreaking havoc, and Finn and friends having to come to grips with the trauma of the original film.

Without having to dig much, an astute horror fan will be able to see the influences on display in this film, some of them homages and some of them just ingredients we’ve seen the filmmakers experiment with in years prior.

Early on, I was immediately taken by the cinematography, which has a grittier approach than the original film. An almost warped home-movie vibe, coupled with more emphasis on unnerving noises, helps make Black Phone 2 feel even more like the spiritual successor to Sinister, in all the best ways.

Likewise, by the end, you could tell Scott Derrickson’s faith (or, at the very least, his sentiments about faith) carrying a lot of the same hopefulness as his prior film Deliver Us from Evil.

The comparisons to A Nightmare on Elm Street you have seen around the internet are well-earned as well, with a very similar ‘If you die in your dreams, you die for real’ component tucked inside the film.

All of it comes together to create a rather unique and ambitious film, that largely plays it straight and aims for someplace higher than the average slasher film ever does. Ethan Hawke is fantastic as The Grabber, offering a character that feels playfully sadistic and yet, thankfully, never overdoes it. Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw offer solid performances, demonstrating the wounds of war from the last film, without falling too deeply into melodrama. Demián Bichir’s a lovable camp counselor, who behaves with strong moral principles, acting as the adult in the room, but isn’t afraid to poke fun and loosen up when the circumstances allow.

The film is beautifully shot, with a wonderful snowy setting to contrast the bloodshed – honestly and truly, within the first few minutes of watching this film, I was in awe of how it looked. I have a lot of love for a lot of filmmakers, and I can appreciate a lot of films for what they are, with some often being minimalist or understated. Still, seeing this film and how cinematic and epic it feels, I can’t help but feel like this film was a league above the other horror films I’ve seen this year on a technical level.

As far as criticisms go, I came away with a handful.

The Grabber doesn’t have nearly the amount of screen time I would have liked. Every second he is in the driver’s seat, I truly feel ‘grabbed’ by Ethan Hawke’s performance, but I found his presence was too far and few between. I understand the mantra that less is more, but I also believe that this film could have afforded to have had less exposition and more of its menacing antagonist wreaking havoc. At the same time, there are worse criticisms to be posed than saying that a film left you wanting more.

The dialogue and its delivery can sometimes leave something to be desired. This happens in a lot of horror movies, believe it or not.

Basically, you’ll have a young character say something crude or profane, and it’s meant to be either a ‘badass’ moment or add a little brevity to a situation. This film had a couple of these moments toward the tail end, with the characters trying to sass The Grabber, and I thought they took away from the otherwise intense situations. I think this criticism circles back to a criticism I would always have with some A Nightmare on Elm Street movies. A lot of people hated the comedic Freddy, but I never did. I had problems with the later movies, at times, but, more often, it was because I had an issue with his victims being comedic. When Freddy was comedic, to me, that’s just him playing with his food, but when someone plays with him, that subtracts from the stakes and the film’s dynamic.

In fact, the tail end of the film was a bit of a mixed bag for me. Without going into spoilers, I really enjoyed the setting that closed out the film. I thought it was both poetic and aesthetically beautiful, what I wasn’t sold on was how The Grabber was combated, which I found a little anticlimactic. The film definitely wanted to be symbolic and abstract with its conclusion, and I can respect it, but I will maintain that I think it could have packed a bigger punch.

I liked Black Phone 2 a lot in the end. The film mostly succeeds and flourishes in every metric I look for. The antagonist is well portrayed. The protagonists are thoughtfully constructed, with unique emotions that drive them. The cinematography and sound-editing is fantastic and exactly the kind of thing I love to see but rarely do in the horror genre.