By Hope Madden 
Black Phone 2
Bad dreams haunt 15-year-old Gwen as she receives calls from the black phone and sees disturbing visions of three boys being stalked at a winter camp. Accompanied by her brother, Finn, they head to the camp to solve the mystery, only to confront the Grabber — a killer who’s grown even more powerful in death.
Release date: 17 October 2025 (UK)
Director: Scott Derrickson
Starring: Mason Thames; Madeleine McGraw; Jeremy Davies; Demián Bichir; Ethan Hawke
When Scott Derrickson’s The Black Phone rang in 2021, it answered with a chilling and surprisingly emotional hit. The film, adapted from a Joe Hill short story, took the terrifying premise of a masked predator, The Grabber (Ethan Hawke), snatching children and the desperate survival of one boy, Finney Blake (Mason Thames), and turned it into a genre triumph.
Trapped in a soundproof basement, Finney’s only hope was a disconnected phone on the wall, through which the vengeful spirits of The Grabber’s previous victims communicated, offering hard-won advice and a chance at vengeance. Its critical and commercial success, praised for its potent blend of supernatural horror and grounded character drama, inevitably raised the question: with The Grabber defeated, where could the story possibly go?
The phone may be silent, but the line to the other side is still very much open, forcing the Blake siblings to confront a new nightmare born from the echoes of the old one.
This Line is Busy: Black Phone 2 Fumbles the Call
A Horror Movie Review by Hope Madden
I was cautiously optimistic about director Scott Derrickson’s sequel to his creepy 2021 Joe Hill adaptation, Black Phone. And lo and behold, within the first ten minutes, Black Phone 2 had worked three of my favorite things into its tale: Pink Floyd, Duran Duran, and extreme profanity from children.
I’m listening.
Finney (Mason Thames) and his little sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) are struggling to find a new normal after Finney killed serial killer The Grabber (Ethan Hawke) a few years back. What Finn doesn’t want to admit is that he still sees that masked demon in a top hat everywhere he looks. Meanwhile, Gwen’s dreams have taken a decidedly sinister turn.
Last time out, Derrickson, writing with longtime collaborator C. Robert Cargill, filled out Hill’s short story with a just-strong-enough b-story about Gwen and her dreams. It gave the film a larger world to live in and enhanced the supernatural elements of Hill’s original nicely.
For the sequel, Cargill and Derrickson mine Gwen’s abilities for the bulk of the story, as her dreams lead the two siblings to a Christian sleepaway camp called Alpine Lake. Derrickson’s early 80s timeline allows for an analog look that lets him artfully conjure Friday the 13th, of course, as well as A Nightmare on Elm Street (the original and episode 4). There’s even a little Curtains thrown in there. Fun!
The script tries to close too many circles, find too many coincidences, and the story collapses on itself. Worse, a perfectly grotesque and bloody climax is kneecapped by an unfortunately saccharine ending.
Still, there is plenty of bloodshed and gore, and Hawke still cuts an impressive figure in that mask. We don’t see or hear enough of him in a story that feels rushed, but you don’t need much of The Grabber to be creeped out.
My real worry was that if Gwen and crew didn’t figure out what’s what and get home from camp in time, she might miss the Duran Duran show. Talk about tension!
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