Story and tone

On October 16, the horror film Black Phone 2 was released—a sequel to the 2022 film adaptation of Joe Hill’s short story Black Phone.

Several years have passed since the frightened boy Finny Blake managed to defeat the child killer Kidnapper, and his sister Gwen, thanks to her psychic abilities inherited from her mother, found her brother.

They have grown up, and their father has stopped drinking and treating his children like cattle. However, the young man has still not been able to overcome the deep trauma caused by his encounter with the maniac, and it has turned into uncontrollable aggression — now Finny is ready to beat up his peers at the first opportunity.

Visual imagination

Over time, the visions become increasingly sinister and realistic, prompting him to plan a trip there to find out what happened. 

Pay phones continue to ring incessantly when Finney is nearby. Under the pretext of working as intern counselors, the teenagers go to a camp where a monster awaits them, no longer real, but straight out of hell.

Themes

In the sequel, renowned horror film director Scott Derrickson and screenwriter C. Robert Cargill take a slightly different approach.

Instead of recreating King’s authentic atmosphere, the filmmakers openly draw inspiration from much more straightforward, classic slasher films.

The events are now set in the early 1980s, the heyday of the genre.

Voice performances

In addition, Derrickson does not shy away from using his own tricks. The sinister dreams with gruesome bloody massacres are stylistically and thematically reminiscent of the insane 8mm documentary footage from Sinister (2012), probably the director’s best film, also starring Ethan Hawke.

Music and sound

There is no doubt that the experienced director has mastered the horror genre; Black Phone 2 looks great on both an audio and visual level. The rare jump scares work well. The immortal classic by Pink Floyd is music to the ears. Each new appearance of the masked monster makes the heart beat faster.

Pros

• The presence of terrifying moments, which is vital for horror;
• A film that is magnificent in form, where the director’s skill is evident to the naked eye;
• Skillful borrowing of tropes from classic slasher films;
• This time, the antagonist is even scarier, particularly because he has lost his human face in every sense.

Cons

• It is actually a rather meaningless story, typical of the genre;
• The script’s conventions are too easily dismissed as dreams;
• The narrative is somewhat drawn out.

Final verdict

The Black Phone is definitely a solid product. It’s not without its flaws, of course—if the writers had cut the running time down to the standard hour and a half and removed a few boring dialogues, the film would have benefited greatly.

But overall, we have a worthwhile mainstream horror film, and if Freddy Krueger does turn over in his grave, it will clearly be with a satisfied smile on his burnt face.