Black Phone 2 Review - The Grabber Returns!

Chase Gifford
1 day ago
4 min read

“People find it difficult to let go of their pain. They prefer familiar suffering because they fear the unknown.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

If there was ever a movie I never imagined a sequel for, it would be The Black Phone. The first ties everything up perfectly with anything left unsaid left not so much for interpretation but something more like hoping for the best. You hope their father either learned his lesson or Finney grew up enough to set him straight one day. You hope that Finney was able to move on and become the confident, strong person Robin always knew he was. You hope Gwen learns to use her abilities for good and to no longer fear what she is capable of. I think most of all you hope Gwen and Finn remain close to face whatever comes next. But this is based on a Joe Hill short story so happy endings are in short supply. If you know who Joe Hill is you understand what I mean.

In the beginning of this second chapter, not all is lost. Their abusive father, Terrence, has since quit drinking and no longer hits his children. Real low bar but hey it’s something. Unfortunately that’s where the rainbow ends for the Blake family. Finn is clearly suffering from PTSD and like his father is trying to numb the pain with marijuana. And Gwen’s curse is starting to take over her nights when she should be warm in her bed, she is wandering in their family home, in the neighborhood, and down in one very familiar basement. The Grabber may be dead but as the Blake family will soon learn, dead is just a word.

To continue the story it needed to be something fresh but without damning what had already been established. The first had to still matter without redoing the same thing all over again. It couldn’t be business as usual anymore and this new chapter nails the trailing effects of trauma. The incident is over but there is a looming shadow that will soon envelope them once again.

Mason Thames was only fourteen when he starred in his first movie, The Black Phone. During a time when child actors like Jacob Tremblay, Pierce Gagnon, and Cooper Hoffman were debuting with unforgettable performances, so too was Mason Thames as Finney. It was his first film and he carries it brilliantly. Going up against the talents of Ethan Hawke is no small feat. Now, he carries on the legacy of the boy who killed the Grabber and because of this Finney is very different from how we remember him. Thames creates a new persona for Finn, one of sorrow, hidden pain, and blind rage. Hiding his fear behind a wall of violent behavior becoming the kid with a reputation at school. Thames gives another noteworthy performance giving a character we thought we knew entirely new dimensions adding fascinating complexities to an already dire situation.

A highlight of the first film is Madeleine McGraw as Gwen. She is tenacious, formidable, and incredibly feisty. She stands up to everyone from school bullies to actual police detectives. And her use of colorful curse words is nothing short of poetic. It was my greatest hope that her personality would shine through again and she absolutely delivers. She is, like Thames as Finn, far more complex now, but still able to create some of the funniest moments of part two. Despite how dark this story gets, and believe me when I say it sometimes practically sits at the gates of hell, there is still humor in the wreckage.

So much of what the Grabber did to children is alluded to but not really explored. With Finn he meets his match so his rituals are never fully known. In part two we get a better glimpse into his methods and they are grotesque and hateful. He doesn’t just target children, he hunts them and tortures them. The difference now is his power has been relegated to the underworld where his limitations are much less of an interference to his ultimate goal, and that is to hurt Finn in unspeakable ways. He is a supernatural presence now and this should concern everyone.

The environment this time is a frozen lake in the middle of a blizzard. It isolates Finn, Gwen, and their new friend, Ernesto, Robin’s little brother. This is where the new abilities of the Grabber emerge, debuting an old foe with terrifying new power.

Director Scott Derrickson takes a style he has featured in the first Black Phone as well as Sinister – a kind of grainy, handheld approach highlighting the terror that sits in the darkness. It feels ominous, as if something is always lurking, waiting, ready to strike. In Gwen’s dreams this grainy reality is off somehow. The sound design has a muffled quality to it, as if to imply no one will come to save them. It’s such an effective and unnerving stylistic choice that adds so much drama to something that is already so unsettling.

Black Phone 2 leans heavier into the supernatural side of things. It’s touched on in the first but this time we spend a lot of time in Gwen’s dreams as they guide her, trap her, and unfortunately where she encounters him in a new realm of nightmarish impossibilities. Finn is broken but through experience and inspiration primarily from Robin and his tough-as-nails sister, he will rise to the occasion, we hope. Gwen is more victim this time but never without a sense of fight in her. She is the same girl in a lot of ways, still foul mouthed and hilarious but never to be taken lightly.

Hawke as the Grabber is more omnipresent this time around making him feel more ghostly and therefore more unpredictable. He was once bound by a fear of getting caught. Now he is beholden to nothing beyond his insatiable need for brutality and torturous mayhem. Part two of this story is scarier, more bizarre, more spiritual and more nefarious. It’s always scary, always interesting, surprisingly gory, shockingly brutal at times, and worthy of the name, Black Phone.