The Black Phone 2 (2025) is directed by Scott Derickson, who wrote the screenplay alongside C. Robert Cargill. It stars Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Ethan Hawke, Demian Bichir, Jermey Davies, Miguel Mora, Arianna Rivas, Maev Beaty, Graham Abbey, Anna Lore, Simon Webster, and Jacob Moran. This sequel once again follows Finny (Thames), now 17, and his sister Gwen, now 15, four years after the events of The Black Phone (2021). When Gwen begins having recurring dreams of children trapped beneath a frozen mountain lake, her investigation leads her to a secluded winter camp called Alpine Lake. Along with Ernie (Mora), the little brother of Finny’s late friend and Grabber victim, Robin, the siblings accept counselor jobs there in hopes of explaining Gwen’s dreams. They quickly discover the mystery is connected to their late mother and, even more importantly, to The Grabber, whose spirit returns to exact his revenge. 

Mason Thames once again gives a commendable lead performance, his newfound maturity adding a bit of gravitas this time around. The script also isn’t afraid to give Finny complex, challenging flaws directly related to his experiences in the first film. In terms of this kind of character development, the film very much feels like a worthy, intelligent sequel. Gwen is likewise taken in a much more mature direction, with the character being promoted to co-lead status this time around. McGraw proves that her charismatic performance in the first film years ago was no fluke. She brings the same kind of “wiz kid” energy, but this time balances it with the same sort of emotional uncertainty that affects most people during their early teens. She’s distinctly the same character, but far more flawed. Therefore, she feels far more real, and thus, infinitely more compelling. 

This sense of satisfying growth also extends to supporting characters such as Terrence (Davies), Finny & Gwen’s formerly alcoholic father. The script forms an unexpectedly thoughtful and poignant dichotomy between father & son, further highlighting the franchise’s underlying themes of substance abuse. As Terrence fights to maintain his sobriety, Finny slowly begins relying on substances (weed) as a form of escape, a complete flip of their previous dynamic. Terrence’s redemption arc was only hinted at in the first film, so it feels good to see it come to fruition this time around. This choice to flip the dynamic is also justified beyond simply “switching things up.” It also highlights the theme of people being able to rise above their worst mistakes and help their loved ones avoid a similar path.  

As a now supernaturally reincarnated version of The Grabber, Ethan Hawke once again delivers a slasher villain who’s the perfect balance of witty and terrifying. Unfortunately, the character struggles to sustain this menace beyond the film’s first half. This is because it eventually becomes clear that the script is only willing to TELL us how much more evil and powerful he is, but never actually SHOW us. He never achieves anything he couldn’t previously; In fact, his new supernatural powers actually make him notably less capable as a killer. Sure, tormenting people in their dreams has an inherent scare factor, but not if the victims walk away scot-free every single time. This issue is further exacerbated by the idea that only certain psychologically clairvoyant personalities (Gwen) are susceptible to The Grabber’s abilities. This leaves only one character to truly worry about, which strips away much of the film’s would-be moment-to-moment tension. Whenever the character is with the others, there’s almost no sense of danger. When this individual is off on thier own, The Grabber’s appearance is predictable because it’s the only time he’s even ‘physically’ capable of being around. This causes nearly every other character to seem like a complete idiot. Why in the hell would you leave the one possible victim alone for even 15 minutes? It’s careless and doesn’t track with how intelligently they react to almost everything else. 

The film’s expanded budget is on full display, the snowy mountain setting perfectly juxtaposing the original. It often works to emulate winter-set horror films such as The Thing (1982), which helps provide this sequel with a similar sense of claustrophobic paranoia. Also, the youth camp element works as a subtle nod to films such as Friday the 13th (1980), an unoriginal but always welcome element for the horror fandom. The most prominent inspirations, however, are easily A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) & A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987). The Grabber’s new powers are almost 1:1 with Freddy Krueger’s, which is something that should feel like a breath of fresh air to Nightmare fans who’ve waited 15 years and counting for another installment. Unfortunately, these kinds of obvious inspirations ultimately hurt The Black Phone 2 because they never improve on any of the moments they’re referencing. These are all initially a lot of fun, but ultimately just play out as lazy reminders of more effective sequences within far superior films. 

A lot of my gripes about the film could be easily forgiven if it culminated in a more effective, meaningful climax, but it’s instead the complete opposite. The final face-off with The Grabber is unique in its setting, but that’s about it. No sacrifices are made, nothing interesting is revealed, and not a single character is forced to make any kind of sacrifice. For Pete’s sake, the only people that actually die are the two characters the script essentially begs us to hate from the moment they show up. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t necessarily enjoy it when characters I like bite the dust, but it’s one of the most universal and timelessly effective ways to establish stakes, especially in the slasher genre. It seems like the obvious way to sustain this franchise would be to make the central villain more dangerous in nearly every way, but Derickson doesn’t seem to realize this. Almost everything about this script is compelling and carefully conceived. Still, this ending feels so rushed and unsatisfying that it pretty much ruins all of the excellent setup. I wouldn’t be surprised if the studio hired a third writer to wrap things up in under two hours, whether or not it improved the film. 

Overall, this sequel is the definition of “a mixed bag.” Most of Derickson’s choices related to the characters work exceptionally well, especially throughout the first half. Unfortunately, the only disappointment character-wise is The Grabber, who, for a majority of viewers, is the film’s biggest draw. The script constantly wants us to believe how much more deadly he is this time around, which doesn’t work (and won’t ever work) if he never actually kills anyone. This results in a climax so cliché, it’s almost groan-worthy. In fact, it’s so disappointing that it pretty much trumps all of the film’s impressive build-up. All that said, the film is strong enough in most respects to earn my cautious recommendation, especially for fans of the first installment. It’s worth a watch, but I’m not clamoring for a sequel. However, I’m not opposed to one either. I just don’t really care about it anymore. C+