Ah yes, the sequel to the surprise success. This is a tricky place to be, since usually you’re greenlit, with a bigger budget, but no script that you have to deliver faster, sometimes when the first film has a full ending. I really thought Black Phone 2 was gonna be a big waste of time. But when I saw Scott Derrickson and Ethan Hunt both back and committed to the bit, I should have known we were in steadier hands than I thought.
Even though we’re 4 years after Finney Blake (Mason Thames) killed the Grabber (Ethan Hawke) and survived his encounter with the serial killer, everyone’s stuck. Stuck, until Finney’s sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) starts getting phone calls from a girl. From Alpine Lake Colorado. In 1957 (it’s 1982). Gwen’s dreams are so vivid that she signs up to become a camp counselor there, convincing Finney and her maybe boyfriend Ernesto (Miguel Mora) to join her there. Once the trio arrive, Gwen’s dreams become even more alive, uncovering maybe some history their dad Terrence (Jeremy Davies) was hiding from them.
Scott Derrickson has been around long enough to know you can’t just do the same thing and expect the same result. So even though he got hella lucky with Mason Thames (having his moment this year) as his main boy in the first Black Phone, Finney is more of a supporting character here. But Derrickson remembers: Madeleine McGraw was electrifying everytime she showed up onscreen in the first movie, a wonderful worldly weird mixture of a person. She’s asked to carry Black Phone 2’s main story this time, without sacrificing that potent character mixture that made her the straw that stirred the first’s drink. And she pulls it off! She’s still awesome when dressing down an uptight ultra religious camp employee Barb (Maev Beaty), but she’s also equally good showing an inner strength and vulnerability mixture when the emotional stakes of the movie take center stage. Like sister Violet, it appears Madeleine was born to be a horror star.
Derrickson wrangles the rest of the cast behind his sequel star. Thames plays off of McGraw well enough: a straight shooter tough guy burying all of his feelings about his horrors 4 years ago. Ethan Hawke is as frightening, even more so, when talking to violet as he was with Finney in the first film; there’s a gravelly chill he elicits everytime he opens his mouth. Demain Bichir is a wonderful new addition, giving the movie some glue necessary to let the main cast go off on different adventures on the lake. Derrickson provides the rest of that glue with his great horror eye. Without changing the color palette we usually know when characters are dreaming and when they’re not, a cool editing trick I don’t think I’ve seen before. And the big final hour at the lake is filled with scary stuff, and great creepy images like the Grabber on the lake, or a really sinister dream journey through the mess hall.
So even though Black Phone 2 arrives at a perfectly satisfying, full conclusion. I would be ok if everyone came back to try a third film. Because the creative juices in this horror franchise keep this thing going more than anything. And, the Fanning sisters need a Hollywood Rivalry, who better than the McGraws, phones and M3GAN’s in hand?