Black Phone 2: An Unnecessary Sequel

Somewhat unexpectedly, director Scott Derrickson and writer C. Robert Cargill are back with their latest film, Black Phone 2, to remind us that phones are scary, the 70’s was a cool time for horror, and that a box office success demands an unnecessary sequel.

Just so we can start somewhere simple, the first installment’s title is The Black Phone, and the sequel’s is Black Phone 2, ok? They dropped the the. I’ll admit, it’s easier to type. I’ll also admit that, during the writing of this review, I learned that C. Robert Cargill used to write for Ain’t It Cool News. And he’s from Austin. Ain’t that cool.

While Derrickson’s filmography isn’t universally praised (did anyone watch Deliver Us From Evil?), his collaborations with writer Cargill have been mostly successful. Sinister has been “scientifically” named the scariest movie of all time year after year; Doctor Strange was maybe the best of the early Marvel Cinematic Universe side quests; and The Black Phone made a strong case for expanding 20-page short stories into full-length features.

The Black Phone had a skeleton of a blueprint. The short story it’s based on, written by Joe Hill, is quite sparse; it takes place entirely in a single, dimly lit basement and is mostly interested in the spookiness of old rotary phones and talking to the dead. “Dead victims call an unplugged phone to help a kidnapped boy escape his captor” is a fair summary of the short story’s plot, and it’s elevated by strong atmospheric writing in its portrayal of late-’70s Americana (you know, back when kidnappings happened because parents forgot they had kids).

But it’s ultimately not very substantial. It’s taut and left unexplained, and that’s the magic of both the short story and the first film. That Blumhouse Productions managed to capture the short story’s unknowability was the highlight of The Black Phone, and, alongside a fun escape room structure and a truly effective emotional payoff, it buoyed a not-that-scary horror film into a box-office success. 

It’s just… they ran out of runway for a second installment in the series. By the end of The Black Phone, The Grabber (as the kidnapper is known) is dead, protagonist Finn is saved, his alcoholic dad feels regret, and all seems right in their little town. Where in the world do you go from there?

The fact that Derrickson and Cargill managed to wring a second script from such a bare-bones short story means that, despite Hill’s production involvement, they did the bulk of the writing and world-building. Without further source material to pull from, they’re left to their own devices, and fans of their collaborative work should recognize that writing isn’t their strong suit. It’s Game of Thrones season 8 all over again. So it makes sense that, in Black Phone 2, the writing and world-building is where we see the cracks.

Four years after their run-in with The Grabber, siblings Gwen and Finn are still dealing with the traumatic fallout. After a series of strange dreams prompt them to visit Alpine Lake, a Christian summer camp currently snowed in by a blizzard, the duo uncover secrets about their relationship with the camp, their family, and The Grabber himself. It’s all very “here are the dots you didn’t know were connected,” very Kill Bill 2 (the film even features a “his name is WHAT?” moment). This, somewhat ironically, puts it at odds with what made the first film strong to begin with. The lack of explanation regarding the paranormal is exactly why The Black Phone resonated. It left far more questions than it provided answers. And given how Black Phone 2 plays out, maybe those questions should’ve stayed unresolved.

Let’s give credit where it’s due: the film is gorgeous, shot with impeccable taste by cinematographer Pär M. Ekberg, and accompanied by a gripping score from Atticus Derrickson, the director’s son. There are some wonderful images here: Gwen’s spinning phone-booth blood spatter; the crumpled face of a hooded child crawling from under the bottom bunk; the Super 8 snuff footage, a personal favorite of Derrickson’s (it’s in nearly everything he makes nowadays). It’s full of things to look at and sounds to hear. It’s just a shame about the writing.

The plot simply takes too long to get going. It’s maybe 40–50 minutes before we’re given a plot point beyond what I refer to as “clues.” Dreams are clues. Notes, premonitions, memories—all clues. They’re the cookies on the hiking trail leading us to something tangible, something we can root for. You know, stakes? For the first act, we’re in clue mode. It isn’t until we arrive at Alpine Lake that the film starts.

And hey, didn’t The Grabber die in The Black Phone? How do we get around that? While the first film toyed with the concept of the paranormal, it kept a stable grasp on reality. Its official stance on the afterlife was a quiet “sure.” But in Black Phone 2? We get definite, objective takes on what Heaven and Hell are, what Christianity is (and isn’t), and other guardrails necessary to keep the franchise on track. There’s a scene near the end that attempts to be both the film’s emotional payoff and its logical explanation, and it destroys the movie. Just obliterates it. Old Yeller would be sympathetic. Audience members in my showing openly laughed, which they didn’t do during any of the film’s actual comedic beats like Gwen’s teenage-inspired insults (“jizzmopper,” “cuntwagon,” etc.). It’s hard not to roll your eyes.

There’s another scene near the halfway mark that incites a long-awaited bit of violence, and it’s at this point where the “filmic influences” start to become the film itself. In other words, it stops trying to be Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, and Stranger Things all at once and starts actually becoming them. Tell me this doesn’t sound familiar: “Two teens with paranormal sensibilities get stranded at a lakeside campground and battle a dead serial killer through their dreams.” I mean, come on.

There’s value in looking back; we build on the backbone of what’s come before. There’s value in the vulnerability of exposing your influences. But that’s a far, far cry from what’s done here. Black Phone 2 has more in common with Nightmare on Elm Street than it does with The Black Phone. The finale is directly lifted from Dream Warriors. It’s uncanny. It would be like if George Lucas made an actual samurai western instead of Star Wars. Great artists don’t borrow; they steal.

And can we all agree that The Grabber as a villain is deeply uncool? Ethan Hawke isn’t scary, the mask isn’t scary, and the name… ugh. The Grabber. It’s so elementary. Plus, he’s barely in the movie at all, and when he is, he’s a Freddy stand-in doing dream crimes while riding ice skates or discussing the intricacies of Hell’s politics. 

Derrickson and Cargill have both expressed that this is a deeply personal movie. They’ve also both expressed their religious beliefs. With this in mind, it starts to make sense why there’s so much Christian iconography, reference, and criticism in a movie about a haunted phone. It also makes sense why, across their extended work together, no characters ever seem to actually die. Even the “bad Christian” side characters here make it through pretty much unscathed.

This was a year of exciting new ideas in horror. Weapons found new ways to portray witches, Final Destination realized it’s a comedy, and, though I haven’t seen it, I heard HIM was a decent music video. Meanwhile, Black Phone 2 is aiming squarely in the other direction in a time when “horror reboot” has its own in-universe Scream reference. I Know What You Did Last Summer is a movie that actually came out in theaters. Safe to say, nostalgia is covered.

Nostalgia is also a trap. It certainly trapped Black Phone 2. And given that it’s the best-performing movie this year out of Blumhouse (having already surpassed $80 million internationally, more than twice their second-best performer M3GAN 2.0 at $39 million), I have to imagine a third is in development. Will they go the way of Freddy and make a mockery of The Grabber? Will it be a prequel? Won’t somebody please tell Finn to stop answering the phone?

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