‘Black Phone 2’ flips the tables to a dazzling success

Director Scott Derrickson returned to the big screen with his second film of the year: Black Phone 2. A sequel to his 2021 hit The Black Phone, the second installment of the franchise brought a new twist to the story’s villain and rules.

Siblings Finney (Mason Thames) and Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) return as the series’ protagonists. In contrast to the first movie, the Grabber (Ethan Hawke) torments both of the siblings, opposed to just Finney, the Grabber’s only known survivor.

Horror sequels typically carry a trope of a killer magically resurrecting after death, becoming inhuman. Black Phone 2 twists that trope around, as the Grabber is never truly back to being “alive,” but manifests himself in Gwen’s psychic dreams. 

The film truly shines with its stylistic choices. The use of a VHS-style grain on Gwen’s dream sequences added a compelling visual element, while also distinguishing the difference between the dreams and reality, even as they merged into one. As cliché as a sleepaway camp is as a setting, Derrickson and his crew made the Alpine Lake camp a unique and unforgettable setting. The stunning natural scenery is beautifully complemented by the deep blues that surround the vicinity, bringing a harsh coldness to the environment while also evoking the dreadful sense of being trapped with an inter-dimensional serial killer. 

The storytelling was enhanced by the cinematography, particularly the strong sequence when Finney is in a phone booth, talking to the Grabber’s victims. The camera swings around the booth, revealing the dead children Finney is talking to, making the audience truly a part of the story. 

Many viewers will likely draw comparisons to Wes Craven’s Nightmare on Elm Street series. While there are similarities, it isn’t a copy-and-paste. It’s a beautiful homage that wonderfully fits the original world they built. Black Phone 2 brings a unique angle on the formula, delivered with heart and sprinkled with the creative juices that have flown from the minds working behind the scenes.

It was a big leap to take a story that once relied on a confined space like the Grabber’s basement – a plot fueled by the dread of the inevitable – and transform its sequel into a vast, frozen-over campground where the threat isn’t a man but a spirit, who can exist everywhere and nowhere at once. It’s truly remarkable how Derrickson, co-writer C. Robert Cargill, and Joe Hill—who wrote the short story The Black Phone was adapted from and provided story ideas to Derrickson—were able to completely flip the rules of engagement in a manner that was believable and frightening.

Black Phone 2 doesn’t rely on jumpscares. It relies on the fear of the unseen, the fear of the unknown and some truly disturbing imagery of dismembered and mutilated dead children. It doesn’t bring the same level of fright as Derrickson, Cargill and Hawke’s first collaboration—2012’s Sinister—but brings an ample amount of tension to keep audiences gripped. 

Black Phone 2, like many of Derrickson’s films, plays with the theme of Christianity. Gwen continues her trend of speaking to Jesus, even when she has doubts of his existence and abilities. Meanwhile, the Grabber outlines his experience in hell. This theological undertone helps create an additional sense of good vs. evil storytelling. 

Thames’s performance as Finney was once again spectacular. The balancing Finney internally battles with of being frightened, trying to suppress the past, and to protect his sister makes him an immensely empathetic character, reinforcing Finney Blake as one of the best horror characters this decade has seen. Hawke, as always, shone on the screen. His rendition of the Grabber was equally as terrifying as the first iteration. Some of McGraw’s dialogue fell flat, especially in the first act. However, once the tension ramped up, so did her performance. The film’s final scene, featuring her on the phone, was a genuine tear-jerker. 

Hawke’s performance was also accentuated by perhaps the coolest sequence of cinema in 2025: the Grabber ice skating on a frozen lake, wielding an axe. Movies just don’t get cooler than that. 

While it was an overall well-written piece of fiction, some of the dialogue felt out of place or just awkward overall. This was particularly prevalent in the first act, especially with Gwen spamming 80s slang in a very unnatural sounding manner. The film carries a very deliberate pace, with a runtime of 114 minutes. Some of the exposition runs a little too long and finds itself redundant.

Black Phone 2 delivered a truly gripping horror tale, hammering down on a strong artistic vision that breathes fresh life into classic horror tropes and motifs. It truly turned the tables on everything its predecessor was, and shows that sequels don’t have to be copy-and-paste in tone and structure in horror.