I really didn’t think I’d like the first Black Phone movie as much as I did. I don’t know if it was the trailers or the fact it was another Blumhouse film, but I ended up loving the concept of past victims helping the newest kidnapped kid to survive.
It was a nice contained story that really didn’t need a sequel. I’m not sure anyone was asking for another one, but here we are. And it’s better they make it now, instead of like 10 years from now when absolutely no one cares, much like Orphan.
I kind of had the same feeling again when it came to Black Phone 2, the trailers honestly made it seem like a glorified knockoff of Nightmare on Elm Street, with The Grabber as Freddy Krueger, set in a summer camp like Friday the 13th.
Because the kids all have The Shining like in the Stephen King book/movie, I was kind of looking at this like it was a sequel. This easily could fit nicely in between The Shining and Doctor Sleep, with Danny as a teen.
Even our main character is named Finney, see…
Actually, this time around the story focuses on Gwen, the little sister. She has psychic powers and has been getting haunting dreams or premonitions from the past, summoning her to a snowy lake.
Okay, is this a thing? The summer camp in the winter, where everything is covered in ice and snow. If so, why? Why would anyone want to go to a camp like that?
It’s literally the biggest issue I have with the movie, this stupid summer camp that looks like it is set in Antarctica.
This movie takes place a few years after the events of the last one, with Fin and Gwen now teenagers, Fin is famous for killing the infamous serial killer “The Grabber”, which honestly, I didn’t know that’s what Ethan Hawk’s character was named.
And since we’re on it, can I just say I hate the mask The Grabber wears. It’s too big, it makes his head look like a bobble head figurine. It looks better without the mouthpiece.
As for Gwen, Fin’s sister, she’s labeled the weird girl, or witch because of her interest in talking to dead people.
Speaking of, lately she has been getting this nightmare where she hears a phone ringing. THE phone, the title of the movie “phone”.
On the other end however is the girl who the film opens with, as she is in a phone booth, out in a snowy tundra. Another kind of dumb thing, just seeing this out of place phone booth next to an iced over lake… Movie is called Black Phone, we gotta get more phones in it!
Gwen soon learns the girl on the other end of the phone is actually her mother. Through some detective work, Gwen finds out the calls are coming from the past at a Christian summer camp she used to work at back in 1957 when she was Gwen’s age.
She keeps getting numbers shown to her by dead boys under the ice, while Gwen gets letters shown to her.
I was really hoping there was more of a twist to this, like the letters not really spelling out what we think. But it’s all pretty clear cut. Obviously this is related to The Grabber, making the camp the place he first started his killing spree.
It would have been interesting if this just happened to be unrelated to him and they were hot on the trail of a different serial killer, and the ghost of The Grabber just happens to be using the situation to get his revenge.
But no, nothing like that happens.
They introduce a few folks working at the camp, one is a couple, an uptight religious woman and her lurch-like husband who would have been the perfect killer reveal. Just seemed like a missed opportunity.
There’s a lot of things like this that pop up in the film that don’t really seem to lead to anything. Like the introduction of this girl Fin’s age working at the camp. You’d think she’s there to maybe set up a romance, but the two barely talk to each other. Why was she even in this?
Also, unlike the first film, no one dies. You’d also think the religious couple would get the ax, why else introduce them? They get cut up a bit but survive mostly unscathed.
The gory parts are all in flashbacks and dream sequences, showing Gwen what The Grabber did to the young boys that went missing at the camp. And they don’t hold back either. It’s pretty damn graphic, with little kids getting chopped to pieces.
Along on this trip to the camp is Ernesto, the brother of one of the dead kids from the first film. He also has a not so subtle crush on Gwen.
On the way to camp, a blizzard hits, trapping everyone at camp with no campers or other councilors.
It’s against the rules for boys and girls to sleep in the same cabin, so Gwen has to sleep alone. When she sleeps, that’s when Freddy… I mean, The Grabber shows up. First the ghost of the boys he killed, who keep trying to tell her something, but she can’t figure it out as the writing on the ice only reads WBH for Wild Bill Hickok, a nickname for The Grabber when he worked there as the handyman since he looks like Wild Bill Hickok.
Each night, The Grabber grows stronger, I’m not sure why, I think feeding off the dead kids, maybe? Unsure honestly. They think that might be the source of his power, so everyone sets out to find the bodies of the boys, which are under the iced over lake.
Now it’s a struggle to find the bodies in time before The Grabber gets more powerful and kills everyone.
I actually really liked this movie, I know from the trailers it seemed like a hodgepodge of different classic horror movies, and it is, but it worked for me.
The only new information the plot gave us involved Gwen and Fin’s mother, who supposedly killed herself. What we find out is pretty interesting and connects them deeper to The Grabber.
I would have like some body count here, as they did introduce throwaway characters that never did anything but stand around waiting to be victims but never do.
I loved how the movie was shot as well. The scene with them driving to the camp, the blizzard coming in and the car wreck they pass, great sequence.
They also do this 16mm film effect every time Gwen is having one of her dream visions, I guess to let the audience know this is a dream.
I would have like Fin to have something to do, he honestly doesn’t really do much, not even The Grabber is after him, as he wants to kill the sister instead.
I’m very torn about a rating. I super enjoyed the movie; however, it seems very flawed with a ton of things that bugged the hell out of me. Screw it, I’ll give it a weak SEE IT.
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