The Black Phone 2 Won’t Have Fans Picking Up This Call Anytime Soon
Image courtesy of Universal Pictures
By Luis Zonenberg
With the Halloween festivities coming to an end, I figured it’s probably time to head back out and close out this season in spectacular fashion! After the chilling thrills I got the last time The Black Phone rang, I figured the call of The Black Phone 2 would be hard to resist. After picking up the phone, though, I felt ready to hang up since it felt more like Freddy Krueger on the line instead of the terrifying Grabber.
This sequel focuses on Finney (Mason Thames) struggling to move on after being kidnapped by The Grabber (Ethan Hawke) four years earlier. His sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), has recurring nightmares of an old camp named Alpine Lake. After learning the camp does exist, they go there to investigate it, but soon find themselves taunted once more by The Grabber, who has returned from beyond the grave to get revenge on Finney for killing him all those years ago.
The harsh wintry landscape and blending of dreams with reality are a sharp contrast to the tight, efficient pacing of the original film. The story only does the bare minimum to expand on the world, failing to up the stakes while also including some rather annoying religious stereotypes. The film instead feels more like a cheap knock-off of films like Friday the 13th or A Nightmare on Elm Street, leaning much more into the supernatural concepts in the original to justify how The Grabber could have even returned in the first place.
The film does a decent job of giving the two main characters, Finney and Gwen, really good character development. The writers were smart to acknowledge that someone like Finney would be haunted by what happened to him in the previous film and to show that his self-destructive nature feeds into his desire to repress his traumatizing memories. Gwen is on the opposite side of this, constantly reliving the past, and like Finney, learns that they both have to confront it so they can move forward.
In general, the cast works very well, with Madeleine McGraw giving a real standout performance as Gwen. She adds a lot of heart and soul to the film, supercharging its emotional core. Mason Thames worked well off McGraw, providing a real tough,gritty performance that reflected the inner torture his character was going through. Ethan Hawke was also a lot of fun to watch as The Grabber, making the most of his scenes and coming across as a real intimidating presence at times. Demián Bichir was also really good in his supporting role, adding some real weight to the more intense scenes.
The cinematography was superb, providing a satisfying visual aesthetic for the film’s dream sequences. Director Scott Derrickson was wise to shoot these scenes in Super 8mm, giving them a gritty atmosphere while also feeding into the retro aesthetic of revisiting the past. It starkly contrasts the lush beauty of the real world and, in turn, builds upon how dreams can visually blend into reality. This is quite genius and shows some real intelligence behind the camera.
The VFX often blended in nicely, with most scenes shot in a darker atmosphere to help shield some of the more awkward rendering. Simple visuals like the phone booth lighting up in the middle of the night or The Grabber revealing his horrific, mangled face were really awesome to look at. Sometimes the editing doesn’t do them justice, and just tries to shoehorn in a quick jumpscare, rarely giving the audience a chance to take in the gruesome details or chilling atmosphere.
While visually pleasing, the movie fails to justify its existence, offering little that adds to the enjoyment of the previous film. The original was a taut thriller that felt self-contained, making this one feel even more like a pointless studio cash grab. While surely not without its own merits, it falls well short of the original and will probably disappoint most horror fans in the process. Chilling visuals and solid performances probably won’t save The Black Phone 2 from having audiences hang up this phone call.
The Black Phone 2 is now playing in theaters.
Rating: ★★ ½ of five
