The Black Phone 2 Movie Review

“The Black Phone 2” carries on the tense telephone terror that began in “The Black Phone” (2021). In the original movie, an old black rotary phone held a supernatural connection to a world beyond. A serial child abductor/ killer was stopped by one of his victims. However, the now deceased killer is back to his old tricks. The Black Phone now has become a party line…

Several years ago, in a Colorado suburb, there were terrible child abductions. A fiend, known only as the ‘Grabber’ (played by Ethan Hawk), tricked young boys into his black van. They were never seen again.

Except that one boy named Finn (played by Mason Thames) was captured one day, and then fought back. His sister Gwen (played by Madeline McGraw) had a special sense power that she got from her mother. She was able to see many details in dreams. Finn found a disconnected black phone in the room where he was being held.

In some mysterious manner, Finn was able to communicate with the spirits of the previous boys that the Grabber had kidnapped and murdered. This was overwhelming to Finn. He was usually looked down upon and picked on at school.

One of his only friends is a guy named Robin (played by Miguel Mora). Robin was caught and killed just prior to Finn getting taken. Using the black phone, Finn learns of ways the previous abductees tried to fend off the Grabber. Using this knowledge, Finn is able end the Grabber’s evil life.

But after the fading of fame, Finn is still afraid and angry. What if the Grabber were to return, and try to hurt him or his sister Gwen. Gwen has found that her ‘seeing powers’ in dreams has become more powerful.

Finn has turned from being bullied at school to becoming a bully himself. He is using pot to self-medicate. Gwen finds out that many of the scary dreams she has been having center around a Youth Camp in the mountains named Alpine Lake.

Gwen has admirer named Ernesto (played by Miguel Mora). This is Robin’s younger brother. She tells Ernesto that there is a connection between the Grabber and the camp at Alpine Lake. She contacts the current owner, named Mando (played by Demián Bichir) about working there.

Even in the dead of Winter, the camp is still open. Gwen and Ernesto are about to head up to Alpine Lake to work. But her father Terry (played by Jeremy Davies) and brother Finn are not pleased.

Finn decides to also go up to the camp, with Gwen and Ernesto. Gwen feels there is a strong connection with her and Alpine Lake, but she cannot explain it. She thinks there are unexplained deaths, and the Grabber might be involved in what had happened in the past.

Finn, Gwen and Ernesto meet up with Mando at the camp. But there is a freak winter storm that shut that place off from the outside world. A little bit like being stuck at the Overlook Hotel, perhaps?

Soon, Finn and Gwen find out that their mother, named Hope (played by Anna Lore), who was a camp councilor at Alpine Lake camp. Gwen has dreams in which she talks with her deceased mother. Gwen is haunted by the spirits of three boys, all victims of the Grabber.

But these murders happened after the Grabber was killed by Finn. So, that is a lot to unpack! Finn gets calls, on a disconnected black phone in a phone booth by the Lake. The three boys need Finn’s help. The Grabber is also able to talk to Finn.

Mando and his niece Mustang (played by Arianna Rivas) hear the back-story of Finn and learn from Gwen about what she knows. The stories of the missing boys had been kept very quiet. But Mando remembers that Hope (Finn and Gwen’s mother) had worked at the camp years ago.

There was one other person who worked there, and he was a loner and a recluse. He had the nickname of ‘Wild Bill’. Finn sees the old group photos, and he can tell it is the Grabber. That evil fiend had worked at this same camp many years ago.

The Grabber is dead and gone. But it seems that Gwen is able to know where he is and what he is going — but only when she is asleep. Because of the power that the Grabber has in this location, near the bodies of the three boys he has hidden — it has given the fiend abilities to inflict pain and danger.

Gwen and Finn and no longer safe. Ernesto, Mando and Mustang are in peril. Even Terry, Finn and Gwen’s father, is not safe any more. He has ‘borrowed’ a snow plow from work to get his kids back home.

But Gwen is having none of it. She is there with a fiery purpose. She will help end the Grabber once and for all, based on helping the three murdered kids. She now knows that her mother Hope was also a victim of the Grabber.

She knows that Finn will not be able to find any inner peace until the Grabber’s reign of supernatural terror has been ended. And if it comes down to it, there is nothing that Gwen will not do to stop the exploits of a dead serial killer. She might even need to move and live in Haddonfield, or find a house on Elm Street…

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“The Black Phone 2″does a tension-filled job setting a bleak and sunless mood in the high peaks. The lakeside camp becomes a zone of terror and horror that has no exit. Scott Derrickson does a terrifyingly good job directing this movie that he co-wrote (with C. Robert Cargill).

This new story gets creative with the plot lines and the casting. Miguel Mora returns for this movie, but now as the younger brother of the now dead Robin. Ethan Hawke comes back – and that is pretty good trick since the ‘Grabber’ is also now dead. The new story is centered more on Gwen, so Madeleine McGraw really gets a chance to shine.

Mason Thames continues the story of Finn, who is now racked with anger, fear and guilt. Jeremy Davies (Terry) is still a clueless father, mired in sadness and alcohol addiction. Some limited new characters add a lot of strength to the movie.

“The Black Phone 2” takes a scary concept and puts it into a new location, with frightening results. The first movie dialed into the horror, and now this one calls right into your soul.