Black Phone 2 (2025) Spoiler Free Review

“Dead is just a word.” In 1984, Wes Craven revolutionized horror cinema with the slasher A Nightmare on Elm Street and with him, a burnt man with blades on his fingers who appears in your nightmares and ends your life while you sleep. Forty-one years later, Scott Derrickson finds a way to reinvent that concept with a soul full of revenge and a phone that connects with the afterlife.

As Finn, now 17, struggles with life after his captivity, his sister begins receiving calls in her dreams from the black phone and seeing disturbing visions of three boys being stalked at a winter camp known as Alpine Lake.

Film synopsis

Black Phone 2 joins the small group of sequels that no one asked for and that, in theory, were not necessary due to the closed ending of the first installment. However, it manages to be effective by expanding the supernatural aspect of the story with coherence and purpose.

Four years after the events of the first film, Finney Blake, played by Mason Thames, tries to deal with the trauma caused by his kidnapping and the murder of The Grabber. Meanwhile, his younger sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) begins to have nightmares that increase her psychic ability inherited from her mother. Soon, the siblings must embark on a trip to a winter youth camp in the mountains of Colorado to face a supernatural threat that plans to destroy them.

Inspired by the horror cinema of the seventies and eighties, Derrickson delivers a sequel that justifies its existence and raises the story to a darker and bloodier level. Once again, Ethan Hawke as The Grabber, does an exceptional job that makes your skin crawl. His on-screen presence is terrifying, making this new contemporary version of Freddy Krueger completely his own.

Camera work immerses you completely in the sequences of nightmares, creating a tense atmosphere that keeps you glued to the screen, while the sound design and bloody special effects only intensify the experience. Black Phone 2 is a well-executed horror sequel that deserves to be seen on the big screen. Perfect for both fans of the genre and those who enjoyed the first installment.

Black Phone 2 is now available in theaters.