While I’ve noticed that there are plenty of sequel films that no one ever asks for taking up space in the world – I’m pleased to announce that I’ve found one that actually improves upon its predecessor.
Last weekend, I got to catch “Black Phone 2” in the local theater and was thrilled to become thoroughly engrossed in the returning sibling duo.
I also really just enjoy it when actors playing siblings act like siblings – teasing each other, arguing, protecting one another and more.
Overall, I like this sequel even better than the first film because of the added atmospheric components and with the villain being back from the dead.
Plus, it ties up all the loose ends for the teenagers that were sort of left in the first movie.
Black Phone 2 is a supernatural horror film directed by Scott Derrickson from a script he co-wrote with C. Robert Cargill, and produced by Jason Blum.
It serves as a sequel to “The Black Phone” (2021).
The film stars Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, and Jeremy Davies reprising their roles with Demián Bichir, Anna Lore, Miguel Mora, Arianna Rivas, Graham Abbey, and Maev Beaty joining the cast.
While the movie clocks in at 114 minutes long, it’s rated R for strong violent content, gore, teen drug use, and language.
In October 1982, four years after Finney Blake (Thames) killed the Grabber (Hawke), his sister Gwen (McGraw) begins having dreams where she sees grisly murders that happened at Alpine Lake Camp in 1957.
During one of the dreams, she receives a call from her mother Hope (Lore), at the time of the murders, who had similar dreams.
Determined to understand the truth, Gwen convinces Finney and Ernesto Arellano (Mora), to travel to Alpine Lake Camp.
Alpine Lake Camp is a Christian youth camp where Hope also worked as a teenager.
When they arrive, a heavy blizzard traps them there with only a few others: the camp supervisor Armando (Bichir), his niece Mustang (Rivas), and two camp employees named Kenneth (Abbey) and Barbara (Beaty).
The three kids begin investigating what Gwen's dreams might mean.
On the second night, Finney receives a call on the camp's dead payphone, this time from the Grabber.
Speaking from death, the Grabber vows revenge, blaming Finney for forcing him to kill his own brother and for ending his life.
Moments later, Gwen is violently attacked in her dream by the Grabber, but Finney, Ernesto, and Mustang manage to save her.
The shaken group gathers in the camp's chapel, where Armando and the others realize they must find the bodies of the Grabber's victims from Alpine Lake Camp to loosen his power over the dream realm.
The group deduces that the bodies are beneath Lake Maru.
As they investigate further, they discover that Armando, Hope, and the Grabber had all known each other at the camp long ago.
That night, Gwen is again pulled into a dream where she faces the Grabber, where he reveals Hope did not commit suicide and he actually killed her, staging it to look self-inflicted.
He then attempts to kill Gwen, with her injuries sustained in the dream manifesting in reality.
She manages to gain power in her dream and fight back before being awakened by Finney and Ernesto.
Meanwhile, Armando is searching for the boys' bodies.
Gwen and Finney have to still overcome their fears before they can defeat the Grabber once and for all.
I do have to say that the film ends positively for the siblings because both for them get closure and are able to face the future together.
So it’s basically a creepy, supernatural horror movie with a happy ending – what more could you ask for?
