Movie Review: “Black Phone 2” Falls Short of Expectations
It’s clear from the existence and execution of “Black Phone 2” that Universal and Blumhouse never expected 2021’s “The Black Phone” to be a hit. If there was an inkling this might have been more than a quick and dirty ‘70s-style riff on a boogeyman tale, there’s no way those in charge would have let their big baddie, the Grabber, be killed off at the end of the movie. The Grabber, played by Ethan Hawke, continues to haunt, torment, and maim children, despite the inconvenience of death.
Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill co-wrote both films, with Derrickson behind the camera as director. The first was based on a short story by Joe Hill, and is set in 1978 Denver, where plucky Finney Blake (Mason Thames) had to escape from the clutches of kidnapper the Grabber while fielding phone calls from the ghosts of the killer’s previous victims, offering tips and tricks. What distinguished “The Black Phone” was its shocking approach to violence with its young characters, who all sported entertainingly profane potty-mouths.
A Disappointing Sequel
In “Black Phone 2,” Finney’s a high school student, drowning his trauma in weed and schoolyard fights, now the bully himself. He’s protective over his sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), who has the gift of psychic sight, but mostly he just wants to check out from his own brain. But the sequel is primarily Gwen’s movie. She starts lucid dreaming and sleepwalking about phone calls from beyond — way beyond, like from their dead mother when she was a teenager, beyond. The messages bring Gwen, Finney and her crush Ernesto (Miguel Mora) to a winter camp for Christian youth, Camp Alpine, now run by Mando (Demian Bichir) and his niece Mustang (Arianna Rivas).
If “The Black Phone” dabbles in crimes that are taboo, even unforgivable in its depiction of brutality against innocent children, “Black Phone 2” commits its own unforgivable crime of being dreadfully boring. This movie is a snooze — and not just because all of the action takes place entirely during Gwen’s dreams. The film can’t shake its lingering scent of “Stranger Things,” but for the sequel, the filmmakers turn for inspiration to another ’80s icon: Freddy Krueger.
A Lack of Originality
The whole film is a “Nightmare on Elm Street” ripoff, with a disfigured killer stalking his prey through their subconscious. Those sequences are fine, action-packed if not entirely scary, but at least it’s something more rousing than the awake scenes, where the characters stand in one place and make speeches to each other about their trauma and character backstory. But the entire affair is monotonously one-note and dour, with only a few pops of wholly unintentional humor. You realize almost immediately what the deal is with these ghost boys, but the film takes its sweet time explaining it all.
It’s also a bit surprising that the film turns out to be so pious and deeply Christian, which is a bit of an odd mix. For a film that’s this much about Jesus and the power of prayer, it also features a scene in which a kid’s face gets sliced in half with a windowpane. But horror’s trend toward the faith-based isn’t a surprise when you take a look at the success of the Bible-thumping “The Conjuring” franchise. However, it seems like this might be the Grabber’s last hurrah. You’ll root for the characters to vanquish him only because then the drudgery might finally end.
“Black Phone 2” has received an MPA rating of R for strong violent content, gore, teen drug use, and language, and has a running time of 1:54. The film is currently playing in theaters. For more information, visit Here
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