Warning: This article contains spoilers for Black Phone 2.
It's time to put on your skates and hit the nearest movie theater, because Black phone 2 is now in cinemas. The long-awaited continuation of the surprise hit of 2021 Black phoneIn this detour, the Reaver returns once again to terrorize Finny and Gwen Blake, but this time as a villainous ghost rather than a flesh-and-blood adversary.
The film passed good with critics after the Fantastic Fest premiere, as IGN's Matt Donato stated in his review 7/10 that the sequel is a “new reimagining of traditional slasher films.” By all accounts, it's a good time to watch films that are sure to satisfy horror fans hungry for a new thrill, and look set to be another winner for longtime horror director Scott Derrickson.
However, like many of Derrickson's previous projects, it was a solid but not outstanding film. Watching Phone Black 2 provides insight into what its director does well and what he has struggled with throughout his career, and is perhaps the most compelling example of why Derrickson has become a patron of “pretty good” horror films. Let's take a look at why Black Phone 2 can't be the next great horror classic.
Skating to success
In many ways, the Black Phone 2 is a step up from its predecessor. The 2021 original was a solid performance that perfectly balanced drama and scares while also establishing a modern horror icon in Ethan Hawke's The Kidnapper. It was also a movie that pretty much tied up all the loose ends the first time around, with Finny Blake (Mason Thames) successfully killing Grabber in his final escape attempt and reuniting with his sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) at the end. There was no obvious direction for the sequel. Considering the film is based on a standalone story by writer Joe Hill, this makes sense. But “Black Phone” was a big hit for Blumhouse. $160 million worldwide and became one of the most acclaimed horror films of the 2020s, meaning a sequel was likely inevitable.
Black Phone 2 capitalizes on the rather clear conclusion of the original, taking the series in a new direction by doubling down on the supernatural conceit by having Grabber return as a ghost just like his victims did last time. The villain now calls Finny on the titular phone. Having his enemies haunted by an axe-wielding ghost not only gives the sequel a new hook, but also makes sense as a continuation of the story since talking ghosts and Gwen's psychic abilities were already introduced in the first film. Derrickson uses this to make his films more dreamlike in many key sequences, and this is where his acumen as a visual storyteller really shines. Enjoying majestic snowy landscapes and surreal imagery is one of the great pleasures of Black Phone 2, blowing the dull concrete basement of The Grabber out of the water from the original.
While Finny's storyline ended with him finally learning to stand up for himself by defeating a serial killer, the sequel is more of Gwen's story. Here she fully comes to terms with all the powers she inherited from her mother, even though they put her in danger due to Grabber's ability to attack her on the Astral Plane. This is a smart move because not only does it give another character a chance to shine, but it also takes full advantage of the genre shift, allowing for a whole new take on horror scenes. When Gwen is attacked by an enemy that others cannot see, she appears isolated from the living, while at the same time her powers link her to the dead, including her mother. However, while there is much to praise, Black Phone 2 stumbles in one important area, namely the script, which doesn't do justice to the film's best creative decisions.
On thin ice
Black Phone 2 was co-written by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, longtime collaborators returning from the first film. It's hard to say whether they're equally responsible for the script's problems, but the writing is Black Phone 2's biggest problem, as it undermines the strengths of Derrickson's direction. Many of the film's best elements are its visual choices: the decision to shoot the astral plane sequences on 8mm, giving them a grainy, distorted look that adds exponentially to the film's atmosphere, featuring snow-capped mountains and frozen lakes as key locations that are equal parts beautiful and ominous, or the use of dream logic in key scenes such as a phone booth materializing on the lake without immediate justification. However, the film comes apart at the seams when the characters start talking about these things, often making it seem like the filmmakers don't trust their audience.
The first act is replete with tedious character decisions, such as Finny defaulting to being an aimless fool in his post-Grabber life, or wooden dialogue, including some serious “how are you guys” lines that make the actors sound like aliens trying to approximate teenage speech patterns. Things improve when Finny and Gwen head to the Christian youth camp where their mother worked decades ago, even if it also makes use of the all-too-convenient blizzard that it happened arrive that night. This ensures that only the main characters and a small group of camp staff are present and cannot leave as the story progresses. Throw in thinly sketched new faces and characters who treat the events of the first film as sacred (what do you mean, “of course everyone's heard of “Grabber”? Does every serial killer automatically become a household name?), and you get a film that can often feel suffocating when people just start talking.
The worst example of this is the scene following the reveal that Grabber killed Finny and Gwen's mom instead of the suicide that was suggested in the first film. The reveal itself is cleverly done, with Grabber using his psychic link to allow Gwen to watch her mother die, and her father Terrence (Jeremy Davis) subsequently discovering the body. But instead of allowing this scene to stand on its own as a powerful moment that the audience can trust, the film has Gwen tearfully explaining what happened to her father and Finny. It looks less like a family reunion and more like three actors standing around reading a movie synopsis from Wikipedia to each other. The plot isn't always painfully literal, but the script doesn't complement Derrickson's poetic imagery. Unfortunately, we have already seen this in his previous films.
One step to the side
Scott Derrickson may not be in the same category as filmmakers commonly referred to as “auteurs,” but he's been an underrated master of the genre for years. As a director with a penchant for horror, he has been producing beautiful and commendable work quite consistently back in 2005 with The Exorcism of Emily Rose, a film whose mixture of courtroom drama and demonic possession had much more staying power than his film. initial reviews can offer. He continued that streak with Sinister, Telephone Black and now Telephone Black 2, making three-star horror films his comfort zone. In addition to his love of the genre, Derrickson has a restrained but distinctive writing voice, a knack for building suspense, a consistent use of Christian themes and imagery, and a rare gift for eliciting great performances from child actors—a talent he used to great effect in the first Black Phone.
Despite all these respectable qualities, none of Derrickson's films became cult classics. He made several films reminiscent of The Exorcist, but never did Exorcist. What it comes down to is that his scripts, often written with collaborators like Cargill or Paul Harris Boardman, never gave him the framework needed to let his visuals and thematic interests make his work emotionally resonate with audiences in the long run. His films are well made, live up to the expectations of their genre, and clearly reflect his particular narrative sensibility, but they don't linger in the mind months or even years later the way the best films do. It's hard to say whether he's found the right premise or whether he needs a new co-writer to help his work reach its potential, but it feels like Derrickson has a great movie in him that he hasn't yet made.
This pattern continued even when he was making the Marvel movie, the first Doctor Strange. Typically considered the middle of the pack in the MCU lineup, it has more going for it than it's often given credit for. The film has a well-cast cast, has gorgeous and distinctive visuals, and while it never reaches the same heights as the best of the Infinity Saga, when it comes to a proper feature-length film like The Avengers or Captain America: The Winter Soldier, there are certain scenes that rank among the best in the Marvel catalog Studios. The Ancient One sends Strange's astral form on a mind-blowing journey through the multiverse, Strange using his intelligence and mastery of the magical concepts he has learned to defeat Dormammu with cunning instead of brute force, and the beautiful moment when Strange and the Ancient One talk on a hospital balcony when she is forced to finally accept her mortality are all fantasy, but they are brought together the standard problems of Marvel movie writing, such as underdeveloped supporting characters and ill-timed humor, are eliminated.
Nearly a decade later, Derrickson is still going strong but in some ways remains in the same place, and Black Phone 2 speaks to that fact. It's a pretty good movie, but it's held back by a script that doesn't give its characters enough depth and nuance to make it a great movie. Let's hope Derrickson crosses that threshold someday, but for now, Telephone Black 2 is yet another entry that illustrates why its director is still stuck in the doorway.
Carlos Morales writes novels, articles and essays on Mass Effect. You can follow his fixes at Twitter.
