The first Black Phone film was based on the book of the same name by Joe Hill, son of horror icon Stephen King. And while the first movie did have some of the King influence into it, Black Phone 2 leans heavily on the supernatural in a fun change.
Finn (Mason Thames) is the boy who defeated the Grabber (Ethan Hawke) and that fame isn’t something he’s handling well. Not when he’s yet to unpack the trauma of nearly being one of the Grabber’s victims. That mixed with his sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), having visions of boys in a frozen lake, there is a lot for him to unpack.
But what makes Black Phone 2 a worthy sequel is that the fear and the hold that the Grabber has over the Blake children is still there, even when he’s not. Scott Derrickson relied heavily on the supernatural in his highly anticipated follow-up and it was the perfect change for a movie like this. It’d have been easy to throw Finn into a room with a “copy cat” or have some other evil to take on but the psychological and the unknown allow Black Phone 2 to be an original and frightening addition to the franchise.
With the more supernatural side of things, it does make it easy to compare the Grabber to another infamous serial killer: Freddy Krueger. Both the Grabber and Freddy hunt children down and kill them with illusions to them both being sexual predators as well, a topic that many have unpacked in various ways and think pieces. But Black Phone 2 make the comparisons between the two almost undeniable.
Haunting the dreams of your victims is next level twisted
The entire concept of this sequel is that Gwen is having visions in her sleep and the Grabber is haunting her. So, you know, Freddy Krueger stalking his victims in their dreams. And much like Freddy, what happens in the dreams does happen to Gwen and it makes the stakes of Black Phone 2 just as high as the original. One of the Blake kids is in danger because of the Grabber and that fuels the other sibling to act.
At the core of Derrickson’s work is a story of love between siblings. Both Finn and Gwen are there for each other because they are all the other has. Even though their father is more involved in their lives this time around, it is the bond these siblings share that makes this story something special.
Yes, it is a sequel that we didn’t really need but I would also like to throw this out there: What if we just let a new generation have their Freddy? If anything, I think the source material of Black Phone makes this a stronger pitch for what A Nightmare on Elm Street was doing and I say that as someone who loves that franchise. Instead of trying to “redo” Freddy, why not let its spirit live on in something like Derrickson’s Black Phone franchise?
It is emotional, terrifying, and surprisingly fresh. Oh, and I cried?
(featured image: Universal Pictures)
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
