The Black Phone 2 Rings Hollow
The Black Phone was an absolutely serviceable standalone film. It was dark, ripe with familiar horror tropes and generally well made. It also has a pretty definitive ending but in the grand tradition of horror movies that make money a sequel must be made. So this is how we arrive at The Black Phone 2, a baffling piece of cinema. Finney (now at 17, just Finn) and his family are back. He seems to be struggling to adjust to life post kidnapping. We see him getting in fights and smoking weed. Gwen, his unexplained psychic sibling, is also having a hard time — she is still having her prophetic dreams but this time she’s seeing bodies in the snow and talking to her dead mom. Eventually they realize that all of this is coming from a Christian Winter Camp (which I guess is a thing in Colorado) and they pack up and head out.
That said, a terrible snowstorm comes in and they’re the only people who make it to the camp besides the people who live there all year. Of course, as they gradually get closer to the source of the Grabber’s power the nightmares get worse. Oh by the way, the Grabber is apparently some sort of magic and is alive even though he was super dead at the end of the last film. The thing that I found most disturbing in the first film was the exploration of human cruelty — yes there was magic (namely Gwen and her dreams) but the Grabber and Finney and Gwen’s father were human and the terror they inflicted was real and grounded. The film makers have taken a different approach here and I do not think it suits the world they created in the first film at all.
The back half of the film becomes a fetch quest for children’s bodies and dream sequences. The dreams are shot on 8-millimeter film which is a really cool idea in theory, but we saw this in Dolby Cinema and at times it was impossible to see the action. The story felt so far removed from the first one but once again the performances were great. Finn, played by Mason Thames was excellent and Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) once again steals the show. They include a bit of a redemption arc for the father which was nice to see but didn’t feel totally necessary. (Great showcase for Jeremy Davies as Terrence though, processing through several stages of grief). If this movie wasn’t connected to The Black Phone I might like it better, but it doesn’t have anything I liked from the first one except the cast.
I understand that sequelizing is all the rage and I understand especially for studios like Blumhouse it’s purely a numbers game. Like I mentioned, horror has a long history of making sequels and I don’t mean to diminish some of the great art that has been made in service to a franchise but by that same token it is so frustrating when a sequel starts to make the previous installment look worse by association. I am never going to be able to revisit The Black Phone without seeing a zombie version of the Grabber on hockey skates plowing towards the camera. (this was in the trailer it’s not a real spoiler!)
I will say though, seeing the Grabber on skates did make me burst out in uncontrollable laughter so maybe that’s what it’s all about.
I give The Black Phone 2 (Blumhouse Productions; R; 1 hr 54 mins) a 1.5 out of 5.
