2021’s horror film The Black Phone, introduced a serial kidnapper and child murderer called The Grabber (Ethan Hawke), played almost like Freddy Kruger’s life story. The version of him that was still human, before he was killed and became a vengeful ghoul, stalking teens in their dreams.
So maybe it’s a fitting that Black Phone 2, the followup from the same on-fire team of director Scott Derrickson co-writing with C. Robert Cargill, continues on that trajectory. Like Freddy, and other horror icons like Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers, the antagonist has transformed from a human threat into a supernatural force – and just maybe a horror icon of the same caliber.
In revisiting the first film, what immediately becomes apparent to me is that the sequel isn’t just a tacked-on experience. It’s a legitimate and deliberate expansion, sowing seeds planted in the first film that I had forgotten but now stand out as premeditated clues.
The film picks back up with teenagers Finn (Mason Thames) and his younger sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), set a few years after Finn’s harrowing escape from The Grabber. Both siblings, as established in the first film, are spiritually sensitive, a trait inherited from their dead mother. Finn is able to commune with the dead (through the “black phone” of the title), and Gwen experiences horrifying visions of reality in her dreams (incredibly rendered in a nightmarish 8mm style). Through their combined abilities they were able to stop the Grabber’s reign of terror and bring peace to his victims.
Now a still-traumatized Finn continues to experience episodes of paranoia and terror, and Gwen’s dreams once again become haunted by visions of death. Soon the voices of the dead cry out from the past, leading the siblings – along with Gwen’s friend/crush Ernesto – into the snow-covered Rockies to a remote youth camp. Not just any camp, but Alpine Lake, which their mother attended as a girl.
They find a sympathetic ear in Armando Reyes (Demián Bichir), Alpine Lake’s supervisor, uncovering not only an older mystery of the the Grabber’s murderous origins, but his unlikely return as well – a vengeful spirit haunting Gwen’s nightmares.
Family trauma emerges as one of the film’s primary themes, expanding on, but also going beyond, the sibling relationship of Finn and Gwen. Their parents come more sharply into focus; their mother’s untold story becomes part of the fabric of the narrative, and their father – who audiences might previously have dismissed as an abusive lush – is more sympathetic when we realize he’s grappling with an unbearable weight of grief. Ernesto has past ties as well: he is the brother of Robin, one of the Grabber’s victims who was Finn’s friend in life before helping him from beyond the grave. When the chips are down, so is he.
Side note, I was surprised and delighted to see that the film’s incredibly haunting electronic score was composed by none other than Scott Derrickson’s son, Atticus. It’s no simple case of nepotism either; he absolutely kills it with a nightmarish and pulsating soundscape.
Black Phone 2 is a more than worthy followup, quite different in many ways from the first film but very much its partner. While it had supernatural trappings, the first film was rooted in the kidnapping drama of a serial child-murderer, which was incredible but by necessity dark and brooding. The second film turns to a full-fledged spookfest, more action-oriented and able to have some fun with the concept, and even a few laughs.
– A/V Out.
