In the first film, The Black Phone, we followed young Finney (Mason Thames), who was abducted by the mysterious Grabber and held captive in a soundproof basement. His sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) desperately tried to find him, guided by her psychic visions and her fierce determination. It was a dark, claustrophobic thriller that combined supernatural tension with raw emotion and it worked.
In this sequel, Finn and Gwen are older and working at a winter camp; the same place where their mother once worked, and mysteriously died. Soon, they uncover chilling truths about their mother's past, and somehow, the Grabber is back, or rather, the idea of him is. He wants revenge on Finn by targeting Gwen.
The problem with The Black Phone 2 is that it never truly earns its fear. The tension, the dread, the eerie silence of the first movie are gone. Finn is grown up, confident and unshaken. Gwen, who once stole every scene with her emotional depth, feels out of place here. Madeleine McGraw is simply miscast; her character is supposed to be terrified, but she plays it too calm, too flat. If they're not afraid, why should we be?
Ethan Hawke's presence as the Grabber, the haunting figure that made the original so memorable, is frustratingly limited. He lurks around the edges of the story, appearing only long enough to remind us how great he was in the first film. When he finally gets a bit more screen time near the end, it's too late. The film has already lost its pulse.
By the final act, I found myself emotionally detached. Whether the Grabber killed Gwen or not didn't seem to matter anymore and that's the worst sin a thriller can commit: indifference.
There's a faint attempt to set up a Black Phone 3 and while that might excite some fans, it feels more like a studio decision than a creative one. The original film ended with quiet finality; this one ends with a shrug.
