“The Black Phone” has always been a special movie to me. It was one of the only movies I watched during COVID and still remains one of my favorites. When the sequel was announced, I was set on seeing it. Normally sequels don’t live up to the original film, but “The Black Phone 2” was an exception.
The first movie follows Finny, played by Mason Thames, and his little sister Gwen, played by Madeleine McGraw, as teenage boys go missing in their area. The kidnapper, nicknamed The Grabber, soon takes Finny. Gwen is set on using her psychic dreams to find her brother. A kidnapped Finny must use a haunted black phone to survive and escape the hands of The Grabber. The second movie is set a few years later, as the two investigate Camp Alpine, which has deep links to The Grabber and his first three victims.
I was worried it would disappoint and just be another money-grab movie, but fortunately this sequel didn’t feel like that. The directors made so many new and creative takes that made the movie entertaining, and there were so many aspects that really added to the story; the characters were a big part of this.
I enjoyed how Finny’s character changed from the first movie. He’s much more violent and angry in this one, all due to the trauma he has from his kidnapping. The directors could have made him a brave and strong hero, but they made him a traumatized survivor instead. This decision made Finny feel more human and realistic, which makes me like him even more.
Gwen is a much bigger character in this movie than in the original. This change was nice as Gwen has always been my favorite character. The reason she was so featured this time was due to her dreams. They were more vivid and realistic than ever before, and Gwen was slowly losing her sanity as the dreams became more intense. She had strong character development and scenes. The only issue with her was the way she treated Finny. There were certain points where it felt like she was ignoring her brother’s trauma and not respecting the time and help he needed to recover.
The Grabber, once again, is the antagonist. My favorite part of the entire movie was how they made The Grabber act; he could only strike in Gwen’s dreams. In these dreams, he could attack and see everyone, but Gwen was the only one who could see him. I loved this part; it felt unique compared to other horror movies with ghosts, monsters and hauntings. The other interesting part was how The Grabber holds his power. He gets his power from the first three boys he killed who remain missing. Since the boys are still missing, they aren’t at rest and are still trapped. It was an extremely creative take on The Grabber and his powers, and it made for an interesting plot line.
There were a few newly-introduced characters, who were interesting but didn’t add a lot to the story. Ernesto, Gwen’s love interest, was a fun character but did not contribute much to the story. His purpose felt like it was simply to bring Miguel Mora—Robin in the original film—back into the franchise. While he was basically useless, Mora does have some strong acting skills that were evident in the movie, along with Thames and McGraw.
Everyone in this movie is talented, and I would’ve loved to have seen more of their skills. A major highlight was Mcgraw and Thames’ acting. Thames was only 17 years old at the time of filming, and McGraw was 16 years old. For their ages, the skill they both have is unbelievable. Both nailed acting as characters struggling mentally and made those personas feel real. Both have unique talents, especially in harder, emotional scenes.
One of those is McGraw’s excellence in crying. She is one of the best criers in Hollywood. During her emotional scenes, I could feel the emotions Gwen was feeling. It was hard to believe that was a 16-year-old girl and not an older, more experienced actor. Thames also excelled at portraying Finny’s struggles. It was clear that the two understood their characters well; something I want to see more of in movies.
The plot of “The Black Phone 2” was pretty solid for a sequel. Like every movie, there were a few things that were unnecessary—the Gwen and Ernesto romance—but in the end, the movie was a nice continuation of the first one. It answered some major unanswered questions of the previous one, and an important part lore-wise was that it gave us a deeper understanding of The Grabber.
This being said, I do wish it went more into his motives and not just who he was. This aspect still feels like an important part that should’ve been talked about in at least one of the movies. Not knowing this didn’t have a huge impact on my understanding of the movies, it would just be nice to know. His backstory would give reason to his actions which could “justify” them a little. Other than that, the movie was enjoyable- it never felt like it was going too fast or slow, and there isn’t very much to complain about.
Minus the lack of backstory for The Grabber, “The Black Phone 2” was a 10/10 movie. The majority of sequels feel poorly written, but this one was a good closure to Gwen and Finny’s stories but still leaves room for a prequel—hopefully on The Grabber—or even a spinoff. It’s currently on streaming and is still playing at Penn Cinema. If you were thinking about seeing it, or are a fan of the original, then I would definitely recommend watching it.
