Black Phone 2 Review

Scott Derrickson makes his second film of 2025 with a sequel to his 2022 hit The Black Phone.

It has been four years since Finney Blake (Mason Thames) survived being held captive by the serial killer The Grabber (Ethan Hawke), whom he killed. He’s suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from the experience. His sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), is experiencing nightmares of three boys being murdered. Gwen believes it’s linked to a Christian camp their mother volunteered at when she was young, and the siblings go up to the mountains to investigate.

The Black Phone was a good horror film. I gave it a 4 out of 5-star review, and the critics and audience reactions were positive. It was a Stephen King-style horror film, which was fitting because the original short story was written by his son, Joe Hill. However, The Black Phone seemed to be an odd candidate for a sequel since it ended on a conclusive note, and Derrickson has seemed to show little interest in sequels. He left the Doctor Strange series because he clashed with Marvel, and he only had a writing credit on Sinister 2, so there was a slight creative distance. However, the film was produced by Blumhouse, and they will milk a property for all its worth.

To continue the story, Derrickson and his co-writer C. Robert Cargill changed the genre and needed to make some retcons. Black Phone 2 was a combination of a cold case murder mystery and a Nightmare on Elm Street film. The scope and spectacle were increased since the sequel moved to a bigger location, and The Grabber turned to Freddy Krueger, so he had dream powers, which meant there were more visual effects. There was also a bit of Friday the 13^th in Black Phone 2 since the Blakes were going to a camp where there had been a series of child deaths.

Black Phone 2 attempted to be a character-focused film, and this showed through the Blake family’s struggles. Finn resorted to drug taking to suppress his memories; he became more volatile and avoided using his connection with the dead. Gwen was considered a freak because of her powers and was affected by her dreams. She needed to find out why she was having them and help her older brother with his issues. The relationship between the brother and sister was a strong aspect of the previous film, so it was wise for the filmmakers to build on it and get them to work together in the sequel.

Thames and McGraw do work well together. The sequel made Gwen the main character since she was the one wanting to investigate the murders, and was The Grabber’s main target. McGraw was excellent in the first film, and she was again in the sequel since Gwen had determination. She also offered some humour because of her colourful language.

The big issue with the film was the need to retcon the relationship with The Grabber. The first film showed Finn being the victim of a random psychopath who was terrifying Denver. In the sequel, he had a deeper-rooted connection with the Blake family, which was contrived for the sake of drama.

As a horror film, Black Phone 2 was perfectly effective. Gwen saw the boys getting brutally murdered with the use of a filter to look like 8mm film. It felt like Sinister. These scenes earned the film’s 18 rating because they were so violent. The Grabber’s taunting of Finn was also a highlight in the film as his spirit hovers around a phone booth and he threatens the teenager from beyond the grave.  Ethan Hawke had a presence.

Most of the horror sequences were more special effects-focused and played more like action scenes. It’s similar to The Conjuring movies; it was a mainstream studio film, and that acts as a gateway to the horror genre.

Black Phone 2 deserves acknowledgement for trying to continue the story and be a different type of film from its predecessor. However, it does suffer from a feeling of being forced, and it wasn’t as good as the first film.