“Black Phone 2” is the sequel to Scott Derrickson’s 2021 horror film “The Black Phone,” inspired by the short story of the same name by Joe Hill. The premise of the original follows the nerdy 13-year-old Finny and his psychic sister, Gwen. They live in Denver, Colorado, which is being terrorized by a serial killer known as The Grabber, who Finny eventually falls victim to. He spends most of the movie trapped in The Grabber’s desolate basement with nothing but a mattress and a black phone, which rings with calls from past victims’ spirits telling Finny how to escape. Finny eventually kills The Grabber and escapes, and his sister’s psychic dreams lead her to find Finny and call the cops.
“Black Phone 2” came out in October earlier this year and received mixed reviews from critics, scoring a 72% on Rotten Tomatoes. The plot takes place four years later, and things get worse. The movie follows a dull, repetitive, and predictable plot as they try to find the bodies of the missing children, reconnect with their late mother, and defeat The Grabber once and for all.
Watching this movie honestly felt like torture. The original movie was unique, clever, well-shot, and enthralling, receiving intense positive feedback from critics and audiences alike. The new film attempts to contrast the first one by blurring the lines between reality and the spiritual elements of The Grabber’s return, but it felt monotonous and vapid. The film feels like it tries to lean into the elements of creative editing and an out of the ordinary filming approach, but the more important elements get lost along the way.
Every time a character spoke, it’s entirely filler instead of something adding to the plot. Watching Finny’s character was mind-numbing, and it seems like the writers gave up when it comes to his character. He never does anything but talk about smoking or warn Gwen about another dreadful run in with The Grabber. These characters seriously made me cringe, especially the scene when Gwen is scared from her dreams and goes to lay down next to Ernesto and he has nothing to say but horrible pickup lines. The film seems to lean heavily into its “Nightmare On Elm Street” inspiration, but forgets to focus on the actual storyline. The plot of the movie seems to get lost with the fighting scenes and montage of Super 8 film shots. The movie beyond doubt feels repetitive, and I had to take a break halfway through when the impending doom of finishing this movie set in.
The film is simply The Grabber talking to Gwen, delivering a bad monologue disguised as an ominous speech, throwing her around a few times, and then doing it all over again. The ending could frankly be predicted 30 minutes in, and it’s evident that the point of this movie was solely to grab money. It feels like they added their own mundane twist onto something that was just a basic Hollywood flick, and it didn’t necessarily add the spark the film needed.
