The Black Phone, directed by Scott Derickson, is a thriller starring Ethan Hawke as the villain (The Grabber) and Mason Thames as the protagonist, Finney. The idea for the movie is based on the short story of the same name, written by Joe Hill. The movie was released on June 24th, 2022, to much praise as well as an 81% positive critic score and an 88% positive audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Black Phone is a coming-of-age story following junior high student Finney and his attempt to survive and escape a serial killer known as The Grabber. Finney and his sister become aware of the Grabber when he begins to take kids they have met, such as a baseball opponent, and eventually Finney’s only friend. Simultaneously, Finney’s sister, Gwen, begins to have dreams of the kids’ abductions, along with visions of the past. Eventually, the grabber abducts Finney and locks him in his basement with nothing but a bed, toilet, and a black rotary phone that is out of order. After some time, the phone begins to ring, and Finney discovers that it is the Grabber’s previous victims calling to make sure Finney doesn’t end up like them. While Finney was stuck in the basement, his sister’s dreams became more detailed, revealing where the Grabber lived, which helped the cops discover where he hid the bodies of all his victims. After killing the Grabber and escaping, Finney found his sister and the cops, and he was free from the basement at last.
The movie was a huge success with an estimated budget of $18 million and grossed $161.4 million globally.
Despite the film’s global success, based on a school survey with 156 respondents, only 57 students have seen the first movie. However, of the 57 who have seen the movie, 41 people loved it, while the other 16 thought it was just fine; no students responded by saying they disliked it. The most popular aspect among the students was the suspense, the overall idea of the story, as well as the ending, which was an especially popular part among students. Most students reported having no problems with the movie, but of the ones who did, the common opinion was that they felt the movie was too scary or too disturbing at times.
After the first film’s success, the writer of the original story, Joe Hill, pitched the idea of a sequel to director Scott Derrickson, and they pitched it to the studio. Before the sequel was released, there was a segment in V/H/S/85, a found footage horror anthology film that featured a segment called Dreamkill, directly connected to The Black Phone. While this connection is very cool and reveals that the power of dream visions is a family trait, it does not connect to the sequel and is of no importance to the overall story of the film duology.
Then, on September 20, Black Phone 2 premiered at the film festival Fantastic Fest and was released globally on October 17. It had an estimated budget of $30 million and had an opening weekend gross of $29.5 million in the US and a total of $45 million worldwide.
Black Phone 2 takes place in a snowed-in summer camp that features returning characters Finney and Gwen, along with a new character named Ernesto, who traveled to meet the other characters after Gwen started having dreams telling her to go there. Upon arriving, they make discoveries that tie their family to the grabber and the camp in ways they never could have imagined.
Black Phone 2 features many strong aspects that make it feel like a worthy sequel to such a highly praised movie. The movie does a good job at making it feel like more than just a cash grab and instead tells another interesting story that expands the characters’ story. The sequel has a larger focus on the paranormal aspects of the previous film, so those who enjoyed that aspect of the previous film might enjoy this movie more. The paranormal aspects mainly play into the dream sequences, which overall do well in explaining the story, even at slower moments. These dream sequences are made more interesting by the incredible cinematography and set design, as it feels like it takes place in a dream. There are also many scenes with great tension as the camera lingers in all the right places, often leaving moviegoers wondering and worried for what may be just off-screen or around the corner.
Unfortunately, with Black Phone 2, there are also many shortcomings, such as weak performances. Although the movie attempts to be scarier than the original film, it ultimately doesn’t feel scarier because the plot lacks any real stakes. This movie also faces a problem many sequels do: it introduces too many characters. Many characters were forgettable and felt useless for the overall plot. While most new actors were decent, a few performances in the film felt very lackluster and often had flat line deliveries. The movie also features a major twist that becomes predictable before the twist occurs; however, despite its predictability, the actors deliver the emotional scenes well.
Overall, Black Phone 2 is a strong sequel that is definitely worth watching while it is in theaters. It can be found in any movie theater with many shows throughout the day. I’d give Black Phone 2 a 7/10 for its interesting story expansions and great cinematography, but a few major flaws hold it back from scoring any higher.
