Double derivative: ‘Black Phone 2’ tries something ‘different’ … by ripping off another horror franchise

By Bob Grimm

I criticized the original The Black Phone for being too derivative. It was a typical hostage story peppered with some decent performances and a gimmick that was meant to make the movie original, but instead, it felt a little silly.

Some credit goes to director Scott Derrickson for trying to do something completely different with his sequel, Black Phone 2. The follow-up takes the Grabber (Ethan Hawke), the serial killer from the original film, and tries to turn him into the new Freddy Krueger, stalking people in the dream world.

In other words … while Derrickson gets some credit for trying to do something different, he also deserves criticism for basically ripping off the Nightmare on Elm Street films.

The script includes some of the same plot gimmicks as in the original—that dead phones that start ringing with supernatural incoming calls. Some of the characters from the original, including Finney (Mason Thames); his sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw); and their dad, Terrence (Jeremy Davies) wind up in a new setting.

This time, they are at a wintry Utah Bible camp where the Grabber’s killing spree started years before with the deaths of three campers. Gwen continues to have strange dreams that reveal clues to the murders, but this time, the Grabber is in those dreams, chasing her and even causing real life bodily harm.

There are a few scenes in which the Grabber is messing with somebody in a dream, and that somebody is thrashing around in the “real” world, à la Elm Street. If you have never seen a Freddy Krueger movie, I suppose this could strike you as genuinely chilling. For me, it was “been there, done that.”

The movie looks good, as did the original, but this supposedly new take on a familiar premise brings little to nothing new to the proceedings.

While Hawke is in the movie, you never really see his face. His face is bashed in (thanks to injuries from the prior movie) under his mask. It’s most definitely his voice, but it could easily be a stand-in under the mask for some of the scenes. I wouldn’t be surprised if he literally phoned in this Black Phone performance.

Thames and McGraw are decent once again, with McGraw’s clairvoyant character taking a more central role. Davies, whose character was a major ass in the first film, gets a more redemptive role this time out. Another actor, Miguel Mora, returns from the original, even though his character died in round one. This time, Mora plays the brother of the deceased character—the old “twin brother” trick.

Hawke (even though we never really see his face) makes the film almost watchable. He’s a genuinely creepy monster, although his performance was most definitely deeper in the first movie.

The new setting provides some decent visuals involving snow and frozen lakes, including some creepy scenes involving submerged bodies coming to life. Again, there are individual moments of legit creepiness in the movie, but the concept doesn’t hold together. Besides Elm Street, it blatantly borrows from Friday the 13th and The Thing, too.

There will more than likely be a third Black Phone, with Grabber phoning in from hell or purgatory or something like that. Whatever happens, I hope Derrickson finds a way to make things a little fresher. The Grabber is a good, original monster. He needs an original movie surrounding him.