DIRECTOR
Scott Derrickson
The Gorge, The Black Phone, Doctor Strange, Deliver Us From Evil, Sinister, The Day The Earth Stood Still, The Exorcism of Emily Rose

STARS
Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Miguel Mora, Demián Bichir and Ethan Hawke

Is it just me or does it feel like every second horror movie to hit our screens these days is a Blumhouse production?

Either way, we can add another to Jason Blum’s growing franchise list in moderately improved sequel, Black Phone 2.

Before progressing, I do feel the need to advise this review of Black Phone 2 does, out of necessity, contain spoilers to the first film from 2021 only, so if you have not seen that and intend to without spoilers, please come back after watching that film.

I first saw The Black Phone by renting it at home sometime after the initial hype (I vaguely recall at the time of its release) had well and truly dropped away. To be honest, I couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about then and still see nothing unique or superior in these 2 films. Admittedly, the supernatural genre of horror is one I tend to least appreciate (not so for Weapons, however!), along with torture porn. There’s such a thing, I believe, as having plausibility within the implausible, and I often find this genre of film is inconsistent in following its own set of self-imposed laws or just recklessly abandons them altogether.

In Black Phone’s case (pun intended), it is the foundations of the story – a daughter inheriting her mother’s psychic abilities, the convenient (or rather contrived) timing she assumes the capability to have a revelatory vision that might save the life of her captive brother and that other kids being held captive by the film’s villain, The Grabber (Ethan Hawke), can make phone calls to aid new victims – are all examples of what I struggle to embrace in this genre of film. It’s largely the same in this sequel – despite his defeat at the end of the first film, The Grabber does live on in a metaphysical kind of way. His metaphysical existence permits him to make phone calls and cause physical harm in the living world, North Denver in 1982 to be exact, to Gwen (a terrific performance from Madeleine McGraw) via her dreams. He also physically and psychological hurts previous victim, Gwen’s brother Finn (Mason Thames). Our protagonists, along with Gwen’s love interest, Ernesto (Miguel Mora) deduce the only way to put an end to The Grabber’s menacing blabber is to visit the Alpine Lake Christian Winter Camp, where Gwen’s mother had stayed in the 1950s.

When the very foundations of a film are on thin ice and that ice mostly gets only thinner as the story progresses, it is tremendously difficult to be engaged or intellectually invested by what unfolds. Having said that, there are one or two plot developments in this sequel that are well devised. Where Black Phone 2 is an improvement upon its predecessor though is entirely attributed to its production qualities. Yes, it relies heavily on jump scares, but it is also highly effective in its visual department and by way of sound. The filming cleverly employs a lack of complete clarity in certain scenes, utilises lighting and darkness creatively and captures Gwen’s dreams sequences with a graininess that ensure it is never visually repetitive. When paired with the score, sound effects and sound mixing throughout, Black Phone 2 has high volumes of creepiness on speed dial. I also thought there was something cinematically Stranger Things-esque about aspects of the story, acting performances and how it embraces the era it is mostly set. For those of you who are more capable at embracing the premise for what it is than I am, this sequel should deliver (almost) 2 hours of high-quality suspense and chills.

Black Phone 2 is showing in cinemas across Australia from October 16th, 2025.

Moviedoc thanks Universal Pictures Australia for the invitation to the screening of this film. 

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc

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