After The Black Phone delivered such a clever adaptation of Joe Hill’s short story of the same name back in 2022, it was hard to imagine what the creative team of Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill could do to expand on the story in a meaningful way for Black Phone 2. After all, The Grabber (Ethan Hawke) was successfully bested by young Finney (Mason Thames) and his little sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw). What more could there possibly be to tell?
Of course, as Black Phone 2’s trailer posits: dead is just a word. But I like the full quote from the film much better: “Dead is just a word. Fear is just the beginning.”
Sometimes, quotes get pulled for trailers because they’re catchy. That’s certainly true here, but those two brief sentences perfectly sum up the impetus for Derrickson and Cargill’s sequel. I went in expecting the terror and the gore, but my favorite surprise of Black Phone 2 is its earnestness.
We meet up with Finney and Gwen three years after the former took on The Grabber and sent him to an early grave for all of his misdeeds. When we say goodbye to Finney in The Black Phone, we see a young man with newfound confidence. However, the Finney we meet up with in the sequel has his father’s rage. Or, more to the point, his fear. Meanwhile, Gwen’s dreams—one of the key supernatural elements from the first film—have only gotten worse.
RELATED ARTICLEA Zombie Grabber Haunts Us in the BLACK PHONE 2 TrailerAnd while the siblings still love each other dearly, Finney has little time for his sister’s visions. He’s dealing with his own unresolved terror over what happened in that basement three years ago. Still, those dreams take the siblings and Ernie (Miguel Mora) to Alpine Lake Youth Camp, where the three teens and the purveyors of the camp will find themselves in the supernatural showdown of their nightmares. With The Black Phone, Cargill and Derrickson were both open about their desire to pay homage to the late ‘70s without playing into caricature. That focus continues in Black Phone 2, but we also see new homages, with the film owing plenty to classics like A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Labyrinth. As a longtime Freddy lover, there is a scene that made me literally cackle with glee despite worrying about the characters on screen. Meanwhile, we get to see both Finney and Gwen reclaim their respective power against The Grabber, a foe that only got more terrifying after death. Surprising as it may be, Black Phone 2 is a deeply, deeply earnest movie. Finney is dealing with extreme PTSD. Gwen believes her power is her curse. And their broken little family is still struggling to come back together after their father Terrance (Jeremy Davies) finally quit drinking and subsequently beating his children. The success of that earnestness lives and dies by the performances of the actors portraying it. And, save for one awkward delivery from Davies late in the third act, every performance from main to supporting hits exactly the way it’s meant to.Universal PicturesPart of that success may also come from the audience watching these kids grow up. McGraw had a breakout performance in The Black Phone. Now she’s back and better than ever in the sequel, showcasing a young actress hyper focused on perfecting her craft. Thames is a whole adult now, with his skill growing in tandem with that of his on-screen sister. It’s truly wild just how talented these two are, and there’s something about actively watching them come into their own in material that would make grown adults 20 years into their careers sweat that makes their outing in Black Phone 2 really special. That specialness only adds to themes of this sequel. You don’t see a ton of hopeful horror movies. That’s broadly by design, but it also makes it all the more remarkable when one manages to pull it off. Especially when the subject matter of that horror franchise involves a lot of dead kids.The connection you feel to the characters also gives Black Phone 2 the opportunity to create more character depth. It takes a little bit for Finney, Gwen and Ernie to get to the camp which, in a lesser film, would present some pacing frustrations. However, since the audience already cares about the siblings, it’s easy to accept Ernie as a part of the ride and to enjoy a more character-driven first act. Don’t take that to mean that Black Phone 2 doesn’t pull out all the stops so far as scares and gore are concerned though. The Grabber is more emboldened than ever. And the snowy Colorado mountains create an absolutely terrifying backdrop that is only amplified by the haunting score. The kills here are as good as ever, but the threat of the kill manages to be even spookier. It would be easy to accuse Black Phone 2 of not having real stakes. But that feels both lazy and willfully missing the intent of the movie that the filmmakers set out to make here.Universal Pictures/BlumhouseIt’s not every day that a sequel doesn’t just successfully carry on the story, but elevates it beyond the original. So far as horror is concerned, there hasn’t been a more remarkable continuation since The Conjuring 2. (Though films like A Quiet Place: Day One and Smile 2 certainly improve upon their source material.) Where The Black Phone was a story of survival, Black Phone 2 is one of reclaiming and growing into your own power. And, while I have a lot of space in my heart for mean or cynical horror outings, Black Phone 2 being bold enough to be earnest amidst all the nihilism in the world is an infinitely more interesting choice than the alternative. I’m not interested in a sequel for sequel’s sake, nor are, it seems, the filmmakers themselves. But I’d happily go on more adventures with these kids for as long as they want to keep going on them.Black Phone 2 hits theaters on October 17, 2025. Black Phone 2 ⭐ (5 of 5)
The post BLACK PHONE 2 Dials Up the Horror Gore Yet Also Offers Hope (Review) appeared first on Nerdist.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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