‘Black Phone 2’ Review: Let This Call Go Straight to Voicemail [C]
Although we can all agree that autumn is the spookiest time of year, winter is perhaps the best season when it comes to immediately giving a film a chilling, dangerous feeling. Just think how many incredible, iconic horror movies are set against a snowy backdrop – The Thing, The Shining, Misery…Black Phone 2 is not one of them. Scott Derrickson’s follow-up to his 2022 surprise hit takes the masked serial killer known as the Grabber out of the suburbs and into the wilderness – specifically, a Bible camp that children attend in the winter rather than the summer (a strange concept, but please don’t worry about it). Like so many horror movies, it chronicles the trauma of its main characters, mining their painful past for scares. And while Derrickson finds creative ways to visualize some truly unnerving dream sequences, Black Phone 2’s screenplay toggles between being overly complicated and unfortunately laughable.
We pick up four years after the events of The Black Phone. Finney (Mason Thames) is still struggling to recover from his imprisonment at the hands of the Grabber (Ethan Hawke). He spends his days lashing out at anyone who dares cross his path, whether that be fellow students or his own family members, and his nights surreptitiously smoking joints on his back porch to dull his overactive mind. At the same time, his sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) continues to have psychic visions that manifest in the form of vivid dreams she has while sleepwalking. Between Finney’s pain and Gwen’s hallucinations, it’s clear that the Grabber isn’t done terrorizing the siblings, despite being technically – or at least physically – dead. Gwen’s visions lead them to a camp that their late mother attended in her youth, and they set off for the remote campground in hopes of finally putting the Grabber and his yet-to-be-recovered victims’ bodies to rest.
It’s pretty clear the story is the result of forced “we need to make a sequel” brainstorming sessions following the success of the previous film. The Black Phone ends with the Grabber’s violent death at the hands of Finney, which puts the souls of the boys he has killed (who have been guiding Finney through the titular telephone) to rest. In Black Phone 2, this conclusion is slightly undone by the revelation that not only does the Grabber still have very real, and very dangerous, powers even in death, but he has a few more victims who have yet to be avenged in order to truly defeat the killer. But how are we supposed to believe that doing so will actually put an end to this murderous spree? It’s not uncommon for horror movies to have villains with supernatural abilities that can overcome the finality of death (Freddy Krueger and Jason say hello), but those films either make the choice to have their bad guys’ supernatural powers apparent from the start, as in A Nightmare on Elm Street, or their killers’ superhumanity serves as a mark of a severe series downturn, such as the Friday the 13th franchise’s later entries. In The Black Phone, the Grabber is very much a human man, albeit surrounded by unearthly story elements that lead to his defeat. Here, the Grabber is in control, both literally and metaphysically, making for a very strange and uneasy readjustment that the audience must make in order for this movie to make any sort of sense, even in a fantastical way. It’s almost as if the film wants viewers to not think too hard about its own rules and logic, which doesn’t speak highly of how it feels about its audiences’ intelligence.
Not to mention, this isn’t shot or executed like a disposable “turn your brain off” horror movie. At nearly double the budget of the first film, Black Phone 2 looks and sounds great, except for some noticeable but forgivable CGI compositing. Derrickson especially excels in crafting the look of Gwen’s psychic visions and dreams – he chooses to shoot them in a grainy 16mm style, giving them an off-putting, throwback feel that immediately calls to mind the kinds of gritty, typically low-budget slashers of the late 70s that remain terrifying to this day. It’s a bit of a cheat to use pastiche to do most of the work in terms of building dread, but it’s undeniably effective. Smartly, the camera placement and blocking of these sequences defy typical POV logic, moving to places and perspectives that Gwen would realistically not be able to see. It’s a smart use of dream logic via cinematography. The empty, eerie soundscape of these visions only further adds to their suspenseful feeling. These uncanny dreams call to mind Derrickson’s excellent use of retro home videos in Sinister and, just as in that film, they’re undeniably the highlight of Black Phone 2.
Unfortunately, this only makes Derrickson’s otherwise comparatively unimaginative direction feel even more disappointing. Characters are consistently blocked in the simplest way possible, and the overwritten screenplay makes this stagnant staging only more apparent. For a horror film, Black Phone 2 is relatively lengthy, and that’s mostly due to redundant dialogue scenes that explain the same ideas and plot points multiple times, often after the audience has already witnessed what the characters are discussing. One unintentionally hilarious scene features Finney, Gwen, and their father Terrence (the always reliable Jeremy Davies, who gives his character a welcome sympathetic energy) standing in a circle as the camera simply switches between medium close-ups of their faces, all while Gwen talks on and on about plot mechanics that the audience is already aware of. It goes on for far too long, and it’s representative of a screenplay that feels like it’s been excessively, unnecessarily padded.
As might be expected given his (over) qualifications, Hawke is excellent as the Grabber. His dialogue and screentime are minimal, but he manages to make a terrifying impression thanks to his precise, grounded physicality and disturbing vocal choices. He’s so good at portraying his terrifying character that he brings a level of menace and genuine danger to some of the more stupefying scenes (let’s just say Jason isn’t the only slasher equipped for an ice rink). Demián Bichir similarly delivers a welcome sturdy performance as Armando, the camp’s owner. His professional, solid presence even allows some of his ridiculous dialogue to feel based in truth.
Only time – and box office receipts – will tell if Black Phone 2 will lead to further franchise entries or not. If this manages to become yet another horror series with an endless number of depreciating chapters, that might actually have the unintended effect of making this part two better by comparison. If we get more chances to meet the Grabber and be continually terrorized by him from the afterlife, his bizarre reemergence in this film might eventually make more sense, or at least be excusable. As it stands, Black Phone 2 is a dizzyingly absurd premise inside of a handsomely-made studio horror film, leading to an imbalanced feeling as wobbly as an amateur ice skater.
Grade: C
Universal Pictures will release Black Phone 2 only in theaters on October 17.
He currently resides in Chicago and is a proud member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics. He also writes and podcasts for Next Best Picture and co-hosts his own podcast “Halloweeners: A Horror Movie Podcast.” You can follow him on Twitter, Letterboxd, and Bluesky @codymonster91
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