by Anthony O'Connor
Worth: $13.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Jeremy Davies, Demián Bichir, Ethan Hawke
Intro:
… it probably won’t linger in your memory or haunt your dreams.
The original The Black Phone dropped back in 2021 and was a surprise hit. Boasting a smart script from Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill (based on a short story by Joe Hill) and directed by Derrickson (Sinister, Doctor Strange), it was a tense, taut serial killer thriller with a supernatural twist and solid performances from the child actors and a playing-against-type Ethan Hawke. It wasn’t a timeless classic and probably won’t be as fondly remembered as Derrickson’s own Sinister (which has the reputation of being one of the scariest films of all time), but it was fun and engaging. All the best people said so. Now in 2025, we have a sequel and while it’s not without its charms, it’s a timely reminder of an immutable truth: not every horror movie needs a sequel.
Black Phone 2 reunites us with troubled young man, Finney Blake (Mason Thames), in 1982. It’s been four years since Finney dramatically ended the reign of terror of child killer The Grabber (Ethan Hawke), but the trauma remains, causing him to become alternately rage-filled and violent or stoned and disconnected. When his little sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) starts having vivid dreams about dead children and a snow covered Christian camp, she and Finney are reluctantly dragged back into some spooky shenanigans that have a very personal connection with their family. Also, it seems that death hasn’t fully slaked the appetite of The Grabber, and he can’t wait to get his revenge from beyond the grave.
The sequel is an odd film mainly because the original flick was a perfect example of a self-contained chiller. However, it made a bundle at the box office, so here we are. The sequel tries to do a lot and is only partially successful. First off, it has to establish a new mystery and does so by using increasingly repetitive dream sequences that start off mildly effective and become less so as the film goes on. Then it has to bring back The Grabber via means that can only be described as “very late entry A Nightmare on Elm Street series”. Finally, the film needs to get us engaged with the main characters again and while Gwen remains delightful (Madeleine McGraw is a standout of both the original and this entry), poor old Finney feels a little sidelined. Black Phone 2 is a very clunky film, moving in fits and starts and it doesn’t reach a decent flow until the third act, which at least delivers a solid if predictable climax and striking imagery.
The acting is decent, with McGraw and Hawke both turning in solid performances, and Derrickson’s direction is effective albeit familiar, but overall Black Phone 2 feels like a story that really didn’t need to be told and its inessential nature makes it a far less engaging prospect. To reiterate: not every horror movie needs a sequel and while Black Phone 2 is unlikely to ruin your day, it probably won’t linger in your memory or haunt your dreams.
