Black Phone 2 movie review: A starved-for-scares horror film

If Black Phone (2021) still had a brother-sister relationship to cling to during its dire passages, Black Phone 2 has nothing. What we have is a starved-for-scares horror film that goes around in circles, between three dead children, The Grabber (Hawke again, painful) and the aforesaid siblings Gwen and Finn (McGraw and Thames, also back), with all of them doing the same thing over and over.

Gwen has grown up to develop quite a colourful tongue for her age, while Finn has taken to leaning against walls and smoking pot. Neither is too appealing.

Ernesto (Mora) is the third wheel in the story as he happens to like Gwen, plus he is the younger brother of one of the boys killed by The Grabber in Black Phone.

God is also accommodated, generously, this time, with the success of The Conjuring franchise having proved that faith and fear go well together.

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The owner of a youth camp up in the mountains, who has not been deterred by the fact that children have gone missing from the establishment and keeps having these camps in the middle of winter, is one of the firm believers.

He may not have much advice for Finn when it comes to The Grabber, except for a very forced “face your fears”, but he comes up with an absolute cracker when it comes to his weed issues: “Devil’s Lettuce is not welcome in this place of God.”

Black Phone 2 movie director: Scott Derrickson
Black Phone 2 movie cast: Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Ethan Hawke, Miguel Mora
Black Phone 2 movie rating: 1 star

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