Movie Review: Black Phone 2 (2025)
Synopsis: Four years after escaping and killing the Grabber, a 17-year-old Finn is struggling to feel normal again. Meanwhile, his sister, Gwen begins having dreams about their mom, three murdered boys and a campground at Alpine Lake. After convincing a reluctant Finn to go with her under the pretense of being counselors in training, the brother and sister, along with Gwen's boyfriend, Ernesto, soon find themselves snowed in by a blizzard and targeted by the Grabber's spirit, who is seeking revenge on Finn by targeting Gwen through her dreams.
Who's in it? The movie stars Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Arianna Rivas and Jeremy Davies.
Review: It's cold and snowy outside so my wife and I decided to just spend the day at home. After re-watching The Black Phone this afternoon, we made ourselves comfortable on the couch to watch Black Phone 2.
I've said this before and I'll say it again, not every movie needs a sequel. This is a good example of why.
One of my complaints about the original movie was the way it overkilled a bit with Gwen's (McGraw) psychic abilities, something that just didn't seem needed in a movie that already had a killer in a mask and ghosts communicating with Finn (Thames) over a disconnected phone. Unfortunately, this film decided to double down on that, and it just didn't work for me.
My biggest problem with that decision is it ultimately dragged this movie into A Nightmare on Elm Street territory, with the Grabber (Hawke) stalking Gwen in her dreams Freddy Krueger style. In fact, had I started watching the movie midway through without knowing the title or anything else about it, I would have assumed it was one of the sequels from that franchise.
Unlike the original, there wasn't even an attempt to keep some sort of mystery. The Grabber's motivations were clear, and it didn't take Gwen long to figure out they needed to find the bodies three of his victims to stop him.
The latter wasn't even hard. Literally the only reason those kids weren't found in the thirty or so years they were missing was nobody thought to search the lake, something I find absolutely ridiculous despite the very bad explanation that was given.
What this movie desperately needed was some sort of surprise twist (and I don't count the twist involving their mom because that one was expected), whether it was the campsite owner (Demián Bichir) secretly being a bad guy, Finn's traumatic experience causing him to become a killer or the Grabber not really being dead. I kept waiting for that to happen and when it didn't, I was very disappointed.
Final Opinion: The first film was an entertaining, unique thriller. This movie was both predictable and didn't even hide the fact it was "borrowing" from another film franchise. I gave it a chance but honestly didn't care for it.
My Grade: D
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Here are some reviews of other supernatural thrillers:
Movie Review: Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)
Movie Review: The Frighteners (1996)
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