Black Phone 2 opens in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, in 1957, where a particular character is having to make a desperate call on a payphone, before we move in to North Denver, 1982, with Finn (Mason Thames – How To Train Your Dragon IMAX 3D) now 17, and it’s been four years since the first film’s events took place.
Now, I will give certain plot details about the first film, so that’s a spoiler if you haven’t seen it, but then the plot is hardly The Usual Suspects.
I only got round to seeing the first film a couple of days before watching this, and while we knew last time that the kids’ mum, Hope, died in 1975, the Grabber (Ethan Hawke – Leave The World Behind) was finally killed off by the end, so they’re all safe, now, right?
Erm… well, the Grabber comes at them through their dreams a la Freddy Krurger. What a load of bollocks. And it also doesn’t help that Finn’s sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), goes sleepwalking all over the place.
The place for all the action in Black Phone 2 is a Christian camp, where the kids go for the winter to be councillors, but due to bad weather, the whole thing’s been cancelled, and they can’t leave immediately. Still, they also have a black phone…
Some more stupid things in this film:
- 1. It’s very odd that their Dad Terrence has been sober for 3 years, so is all ‘nicey nice’, whereas in the first film, he was a drunk child-beater.
- 2. It’s a bit crazy that although they have separate girls and boys dorms, the powers that be still enforce this when there’s only 3 of them, and she’s shit-scared of being alone on her own!
- 3. After the events of the first film, why would you still answer a randomly-ringing black phone, anyway?!
- 4. It’s weird to see the Dad, Terrence (Jeremy Davies – The House That Jack Built), have a personality transplant, being all nicey nice, given he was an abusive father in the last film. Sure, he’s been on the wagon for three years by this point, but it’s still an odd piece of writing.
Still, one good thing. For a 1982 scene, since Ernesto (Miguel Mora) fancies Gwen, he offers to take Gwen to see Duran Duran. I saw them at the International 2 in Manchester for a small, intimate gig in 1989, as an early start to their Big Thing tour. And it was just a fiver!
Hey, if she doesn’t want to go, I will!
Overall, Black Phone 2 is even worse than the tedious first one. For a film about dreams, this really puts you to sleep!
And why don’t they just destroy the fucking phone booth?! I would!
NOTE: There’s no mid- or post-credits scenes, although the film’s epilogue feels like something that could’ve been placed post-credits, but I guess they didn’t want loads of people to miss it.
On the plus side, though, Cineworld Didsbury have a very cool ‘Black Phone 2‘ phone booth set up! See the video below.
Black Phone 2‘s 20th Anniversary is in cinemas now, and is available to buy on 4K Blu-ray, 4K Blu-ray Limited Edition Steelbook, Blu-ray and DVD.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 119 minutes
Release date: October 17th 2025
Studio: Blumhouse Productions
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Anamorphic /i Scope, X-OCN XT (5.8K))
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 2/10
Director: Scott Derrickson
Producers: Jason Blum, C Robert Cargill, Scott Derrickson
Screenplay: C Robert Cargill, Scott Derrickson
Music: Atticus Derrickson
Characters: Joe Hill
Cast:
Finn: Mason Thames
The Grabber: Ethan Hawke
Gwen: Madeleine McGraw
Terrence: Jeremy Davies
Ernesto: Miguel Mora
Mustang: Arianna Rivas
Max: James Ransone
Mando: Demián Bichir
Hope: Anna Lore
Felix: Simon Webster
Barbara: Maev Beaty
Billy: Jacob Moran
Spike: Chase B Robertson
Kenneth: Graham Abbey
Wild Bill: Julien Norman
New Kid: Dexter Bolduc
Cal: Shepherd Munroe
Mean Girl: Jazlyn Wong-lee
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.