Black Phone 2 ups the scares with Gwen’s haunting visions, The Grabber’s monstrous return, and a chilling, snowy backdrop.
Director: Scott Derrickson
Genre: Horror
Run Time: 114′
Rated: R
Fantastic Fest Screening: September 20, 2025
Release Date: October 17, 2025
Where to Watch: In theaters
Sequels are tricky, especially in horror. They often either recycle the scares of the first movie, or try so hard to top them that they lose what made the original work. Black Phone 2 tries something different. Instead of just bringing the masked child killer known as The Grabber back, director Scott Derrickson leans into dream logic, the supernatural, and trauma. The result is a film that’s scarier in parts, stranger in tone, and sometimes even a little goofy, but one that never stops trying to unsettle you.
Four years after escaping The Grabber (Ethan Hawke, of Blue Moon), Finney Blake (Mason Thames, of How to Train Your Dragon), now 17, struggles to process the trauma of his captivity. His younger sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw, of The Black Phone) begins receiving calls in her dreams from the mysterious black phone, where she sees visions of three boys being stalked and murdered at a winter camp. As the siblings dig deeper into these terrifying messages, they’re forced to confront a Grabber who has grown even more powerful in death and far more personal to them than either could have imagined.
What hooked me right away were Gwen’s dreams. They’re genuinely disturbing: grainy, sickly-looking sequences of children being stalked and murdered. The rough texture of these visions makes them feel like something you’re not supposed to be seeing, and they got under my skin more than anything in the first movie. The film clearly takes a page from Nightmare on Elm Street, with The Grabber still able to torment our main characters even after death, and that supernatural shift works really well here.
The Grabber himself looks terrifying. The makeup team deserves serious credit because he’s rotted, monstrous, and almost unrecognizable compared to the first film. Hawke doesn’t need a lot of screen time to make his presence felt; every time he shows up, Black Phone 2 gets ten times creepier.
I also really loved the setting. Horror doesn’t use snow nearly enough, and Alpine Lake gives the film this icy, isolated feeling that just makes everything heavier. Snow has this way of silencing the world, and Derrickson uses that to build dread in scenes where you’re just waiting for the next horrific thing to happen.
That said, the movie isn’t flawless. There are stretches where it feels a little goofy, like it doesn’t know if it wants to be a straight-up horror film or lean into the camp of its premise. Some of Finney’s story beats also feel rushed, for a character dealing with that kind of trauma, I wish we got more time to really sit with him. But at the core, the film nails the idea of siblings facing their shared pain and refusing to let The Grabber define them. That emotional thread gives the movie weight, even when the tone wobbles.
Black Phone 2 isn’t perfect, but it’s bold. It doubles down on the horror, pushes the mythology in new directions, and delivers moments that are genuinely horrific. Between Gwen’s terrifying visions, the snowy setting, and The Grabber’s decayed return, there’s plenty here that lingers after the credits roll. It may not land every punch, but it’s a sequel that dares to be stranger and scarier, and that’s more than I expected.
Black Phone 2: Movie Plot & Recap
Synopsis:
Four years after escaping The Grabber, Finney struggles with life after captivity while his sister Gwen begins receiving terrifying calls through the black phone.
Pros:
- Gwen’s dream sequences are deeply disturbing and effective
- The Grabber’s monstrous, decayed makeup design is unforgettable
- Snowy camp setting creates an eerie, isolating atmosphere
- Tension builds well, with moments of shocking violence
- Strong emotional core about siblings confronting trauma
Cons:
- Some moments feel unintentionally goofy
- Finney’s trauma arc doesn’t feel fleshed out
- Uneven tone occasionally pulls you out of the horror
Black Phone 2 was screened at Fantastic Fest on September 20, 2025. The film will be released in U.S. and Canadian theaters, in U.K. and Irish cinemas, and globally in theatres on October 17, 2025.
