Téléphone Noir 2

The first film was a tense psychological thriller with a slight supernatural element.

Black Phone 2 felt like a throw everything at the wall and see what sticks mess.

The Ernesto character had nothing to do and that story thread.coukd have been lost and helped bring the overly long 2 hour runtime down.

At most this should have been 90mins.

The direction was weird with overly long pauses in scenes that should have been a lot quicker given the situation the characters were in. This was especially noticeable in the scene between the father, son and daughter having a long pause discussion/argument about leaving the camp.

Borrowing from Nightmare on Elm Street in heavy doses only made my eyes roll.

If you enjoyed Black Phone, rewatch that and don't waste your time with this messy, unnecessary sequel.

The positives about this movie were the cinematography, some scenes were shot so well like the mountain scenery.

The outfit and design, and ofc the level of effort put into gore scenes were absolutely realistic.

The rest was just bad, it was literally like watching one of those art short films were a lot of things were there because "it shows a deeper meaning" without it even relating to the plot.

There were parts that felt like filler, the phone scenes took such a huge part of the movie without anything developing in it,it got to the point that it became so boring I only stayed cause my friends were watching.

The characters sucked so bad. I didn't sympathise or like any of them. There was a "cool girl" who was just there, the main character was extremely unlikable and self centered, she even lashed out at her traumatised brother. Despite never showing any sympathy or care to others she demanded ppl risk lives for her to over a dream.

The entire goal of the unlikable character was so useless and vague and it was insulting that I had to accept that everyone suffer because she wants to "be brave" and "get to the bottom of this dream"

This is one of those movies that only exists because the original was too successful to be left alone. Hollywood just can't resist milking the cow until there's absolutely nothing left to squeeze out.

The first movie was great: dark, tense, with a creepy yet somehow grounded atmosphere. The Grabber was terrifying because you didn't know everything about him. That mystery worked. That uncertainty made you uneasy in the best way.

And then comes Part 2... It throws all of that out the window and turns into a half-baked mash-up of Nightmare on Elm Street and Stranger Things, just without the charm, the tension, or a real idea behind it.

This time it's not Finn in the spotlight but his sister Gwen, who starts having nightmares and visions of dead children. And somehow, someone thought it was a great idea to have the Grabber come back from hell (no joke) and haunt her dreams. So now it's half Freddy Krueger, half fantasy nonsense - except it's neither scary nor interesting.

The worst part, though, is that they try to explain the Grabber. They give him a backstory, almost turning him into some kind of tragic antihero. And in doing so, they strip away everything that made him compelling. The entire appeal of the first film was that you didn't know what made him so twisted.

Sure, some scenes look cool - the dream sequences are nicely shot, that grainy, foggy aesthetic is a bit reminiscent of Sinister. But it doesn't save the movie, because underneath, it's just hollow. The Grabber doesn't feel like a disturbing killer anymore, he feels like a parody of himself.

He stumbles around, can't kill properly anymore, keeps missing his targets, and the teens are literally mocking him. The menacing figure from Part 1 has turned into a guy in a mask who's just... sad.

And the script is full of holes. The dream logic, the connection to reality - none of it makes real sense. He could easily kill the characters, but he doesn't. Instead, he monologues, rambles, and disappears. It feels like the writers forgot the rules of their own world.

What annoys me the most: they force a backstory on him. That's the moment when most horror movies die. The second you explain evil, you take away its power. He was scary because you didn't understand him... now he's just another movie villain with trauma and unnecessary lore that no one asked for.

And of course, everything has to be bigger, flashier, and more action-packed, like always, when studios realize the first film worked. But in doing so, they lost exactly what made The Black Phone special: that quiet, cold fear, that feeling of helplessness. What's left is loud, soulless horror theater.

The movie isn't awful. It's competently shot, the acting's fine, and there are a few decent ideas. But it's completely unnecessary. The first one was closed, complete, and powerful. The second one is a textbook example of: "We didn't know when to stop."

A real shame.

Let's be honest: The Black Phone 2 exists for one reason - to fill the producers' pockets. The first one made bank, so they figured, "Let's call the dead again, it's profitable." Problem is, Hollywood's been resurrecting corpses so often it's starting to look like a coke-fueled séance. The original was tight, creepy, and perfectly wrapped up - the kind of story that should've stayed hung up. But no, they had to pick up the receiver again. The result? A sequel that drags its feet like a teenager on a Monday morning.

We find Finney still traumatized, and his sister Gwen with more psychic energy than an entire season of Ghost Whisperer. The black phone starts ringing again - this time, in their dreams. Great idea on paper, but the execution flows about as smoothly as a dial-up connection in 2002. You can feel the writers forcing every twist, like they're propping up a corpse with strings. The intro drags on forever, and you just want to yell, "For God's sake, make the damn phone ring already!"

Ethan Hawke returns as The Grabber - the sadistic, masked boogeyman with the elegance of a homicidal priest - and damn, he's still terrifying. His quiet menace, that eerie control, that vibe of "I'll strangle you, but politely"... it all works. The tragedy is he's barely there. The film treats him like DLC content someone forgot to download. He carried the first movie on his back, but here he's more ghost than villain, and ironically, the film dies the second he vanishes.

Scott Derrickson does his job, though. His direction is sharp, the atmosphere grimy and suffocating, the archival footage still creepy as hell. He knows how to make you squirm without tossing a screamer in your face every ten seconds. It's genuine horror filmmaking, not "fast-horror" for Red Bull-fueled teens. The issue is the story - it just doesn't move. It spins its wheels like a rerun of last season, only foggier and with fewer ideas.

And then there's the ending. The big finale that's supposed to crush you. It doesn't. It happens, it fizzles, and it's gone. No tension, no real payoff, just a limp attempt at emotion. You walk out feeling like someone hung up before the last ring. Shame, because with a bit more guts, that ending could've saved the film. Instead, it leaves a stale "been there, seen that" aftertaste.

The Black Phone 2 is like calling your ex out of loneliness: you know it's a bad idea, but you do it anyway. And of course, you hang up disappointed. Sure, the direction's clean, Ethan Hawke is still monstrous - but the rest reeks of creative exhaustion. It's not a disaster, it's just pointless. Like horror cinema refusing to follow its own advice: sometimes, it's better not to pick up.

You gotta be weary when you see some many 10 star and 1 star reviews.

This movie is your average ok sequel. Did it need to be made? No, but it was and I'm a horror fan so I'll watch it.

You get back story and the atmosphere is good. I left the theater feeling ehh.

So if you're a horror fan who liked the original then check it out, why not. If you never say the first one then skip this.