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Film: Black Phone 2
Year: 2025
Director: Scott Derrickson
Writers: C. Robert Cargill and Scott Derrickson
Starring: Mason Thames, Ethan Hawke and Madeleine McGraw
Review:
Now this is a film that I didn’t know was being made until it was close to being released. At first, I was confused as to how it would be made. It took talking to my wife, Jaime, who saw the original with me that this was made since, knowing that it was already supernatural. I missed this opening weekend, but did catch it at the Gateway Film Center.
Synopsis: four years after escaping The Grabber (Ethan Hawke), Finney Blake (Mason Thames) struggles with life after his captivity. His sister now receives calls in her dreams from the black phone and sees disturbing visions of three boys being stalked at a winter camp known as Alpine Lake.
We start this by seeing a frozen lake and snow on the ground. There is a payphone. Hope (Anna Lore) answers it. We hear her side of the conversation. She is trying to figure out who she’s talking about. The number is local to Colorado.
It then shifts to the present of when this make takes place, which I believe is 1982. Fin is no longer the bullied kid. He beats up a new student, akin to how the previous film started. His sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) calls him off. They walk away and Ernesto Arellano (Miguel Mora) drives up. Interestingly, his older brother befriended Fin before The Grabber took him. Ernesto has a crush on Gwen.
This then gives us a look at their lives. Gwen is bullied. She is also dealing with dreams, like her mother did. Fin is smoking marijuana to cope. He also stops her from sleepwalking out of the house. One of her dreams takes her to the house belonging to The Grabber. It is through these that she learns about Alpine Lake. Terrence (Jeremy Davies) inquires why she has a flyer for it. He reveals their mother was a counselor there before he met her.
Under the guise of being counselors in training, Gwen convinces Ernesto to go with her. Fin decides at the last minute to join, not wanting his sister going away to this camp with this other guy. Their journey is made more difficult due to a snowstorm. Mustang (Arianna Rivas) helps guide them with her horse. Mando (Demián Bichir) runs it and tells them that they left before he could tell them that due to the weather, they’re closed. This trio is snowed in until the roads are plowed.
They then take time to solve the mystery of what happened to Felix (Simon Webster), Cal (Shepherd Munroe) and Spike (Chase B. Robertson). This camp has a dark past that needs to be revealed and time is also a flat circle with things that happened previously coming back up as well. The Grabber also might be even more powerful now that his body is dead and his spirit is free.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I’ll start is that this was smart to have it take place years later. They got back the core of the main cast which I’m always a fan of. They’re older now so that tracks. Something I found interesting is that they brought back the actor who was Angel, he’s just now playing his younger brother, Ernesto. Another good touch is the opening with Fin and Gwen, mirroring the previous film.
Where I want to then go in breaking this down would be the development of our leads. Fin is now a bully, but with emotional depth. Stronger after his ordeal with The Grabber, he is inwardly hurting and self-medicating with weed. He also takes his pain out on classmates. He needs therapy, which was unlikely in that time. Ironically, he is following in the footsteps of his recovering alcoholic father, Terrence, whom he hated in the first film.
There is also more that we get with Gwen. Ostracized at school, she lashes out at Ernesto, who calms her. Her disturbing dreams, similar to her mother's, are believed to have caused her mother's suicide, leading to Terrence's addiction. Finn wants to ignore these events, urging Gwen to do the same, but she believes she can appease the spirits by helping them. Thames and McGraw excelled in creating emotional depth, especially McGraw with her dramatic portrayal.
Where I want to then go would be our new location and The Grabber. I’ll bring back up that I can roll with the idea that since the first one had ghosts helping Fin escape, that it makes sense that now The Grabber is back. This definitely is taking elements from Freddy Krueger. He is haunting dreams. His power grows from fear. There is even something with the story that could be a direct homage to Nightmare on Elm Street 3. There is a backstory element that I guessed. It didn’t ruin it. I’ll say that it would make sense, especially with the progression of real serial killers.
Let’s then finish out with the acting performances. I’ve already said that Thames and McGraw are good in the development of their characters, especially now that they’re older. Hawke is used on a limited basis but he’s terrifying. What’s interesting is that we never see his face. He’s become more of a boogeyman. Bichir is good as this guy who runs the camp that they go to. Mora was solid in his role. I like Davies being back. Rivas, Meav Beaty, Graham Abbey and also the cameo by James Ransone were all solid. Acting was good across the board.
All that is left then is filmmaking aspects. I love the isolated camp that this is set in. It feels cold. There are definitely The Shining vibes there. How they shot things was great too. I love the old film look when we’re in dreams. That feels borrowed from Sinister. There’s almost a grindhouse feel as we’re seeing the killer stalk the boys or what Gwen experiences. That was well done. I’ll also credit the effects. It gets cheesy for me a bit with The Grabber attacking Gwen. What we saw though was good. It is brutal there. The soundtrack and design also adds to the creepy atmosphere.
In conclusion, this successfully builds upon its predecessor by jumping forward in time and bringing back its core cast, allowing for compelling character development, particularly for Finney and Gwen. The film wisely transitions The Grabber into a more ethereal, dream-haunting villain, reminiscent of Freddy, while introducing a chilling new setting at Alpine Lake. With strong performances from the returning actors and effective filmmaking that evokes classics like The Shining and Sinister, the movie delivers a brutal and atmospheric horror experience that expands its supernatural mythos in an intelligent way.
My Rating: 8 out of 10