Movie Review: Black Phone 2 Falls Short of Its Predecessor
As evidenced by 2012’s “Sinister” and 2021’s “The Black Phone,” director Scott Derrickson has a gift for blending realism with the supernatural — and for conjuring a sense of dread that the viewer can’t help but share with the films’ characters. This talent is once again on display in the sequel to the latter, “Black Phone 2,” which hits theaters this week. The film is set four years after the events of its predecessor, which earned more than $160 million at the worldwide box office and has scored myriad fans since it landed on Peacock.
The follow-up sees franchise villain The Grabber (Ethan Hawke) out to exact revenge on his slayer, the now-17-year-old Finney (Mason Thames), from, well, hell. It’s a standard-enough horror-movie premise, and Derrickson and his filmmaking collaborators sell it well, at least for a while. The palpable dread — earned from effective filmmaking elements, including cinematography (Pär M. Ekberg), production design (Patti Podesta), editing (Louise Ford), and the unsettling musical score (Atticus Derrickson, son of the director) — eventually gives way to over-the-top horror spectacle as our heroes desperately attempt to accomplish the goal that somehow and for some reason will defeat the Grabber.
A Change in Focus
Refreshingly, the foul-mouthed 15-year-old Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) takes center stage in this intermittently scary affair, suffering from incredibly disturbing dreams, accompanied by sleepwalking, that connect to her family’s past. Finney, meanwhile, is haunted by ringing phones, the young man repeatedly answering and quickly telling the person on the other line that he’s sorry but that he cannot help them. The director and his co-writer and producing partner, C. Robert Cargill, also deserve credit for straying more than you may have expected from the formula of “The Black Phone.”
The film begins with a ringing black phone, but this rotary number resides in a booth in a snowy, mountainous part of Colorado. We will learn the identity of the girl who speaks into it soon enough. We then cut to Denver in the movie’s present day, 1982, where and when Finney is introducing his fists to a schoolmate who’d razzed him about his experience with the Grabber — much to the disapproval of his younger sister, Gwen.
Performances and Plot
The performances by the leads are a highlight of the film, with McGraw doing a nice job as Gwen, who’s both vulnerable and comfortable firing back at adults who question her with highly offensive phrases. Thames, meanwhile, remains compelling as Finney, who, despite his resentment over his father’s alcoholic past, frequently turns to marijuana to deal with his Grabber-related trauma. Hawke’s performance as The Grabber feels obligatory, but he’s asked to do one-note work here, with the character being little more than the embodiment of evil this go-round.
After the highly effective setup and a first major encounter with the vengeful Grabber, “Black Phone 2” begins to lose steam. The storytelling isn’t as compelling as its predecessor, which was based on a short story by Joe Hill, son of horror great Stephen King. The film’s frenzied climax, as the good guys fight the Grabber on two supernatural fronts, has too much going on, including — wait for it — ice skating.
Conclusion
“Black Phone 2” boasts enough reasons to answer its call, but as the powers that be seemingly could resurrect the Grabber anytime they like for what, you fear, could be increasingly unimpressive efforts, you may want to block its number moving forward. The film is rated R for strong violent content, gore, teen drug use, and language, and has a runtime of 1 hour, 54 minutes. With a star rating of 2.5 out of 4, it’s a decent but not outstanding addition to the horror genre.
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