{"id":1236401733,"date":"2025-10-16T11:16:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T18:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/?p=1236401733"},"modified":"2025-10-16T15:55:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T22:55:01","slug":"black-phone-2-review-ethan-hawke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/black-phone-2-review-ethan-hawke-1236401733\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Black Phone 2’ Review: Ethan Hawke Returns for More Virtuoso Demonic Tormenting in an Effective Horror Sequel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\tAt one point in Black Phone 2<\/em>, the Grabber, the villain played so memorably by Ethan Hawke, reunites with his potential victim from the first film. \u201cDid you think our story was over, Finny?\u201d the demonic masked figure asks tauntingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIt seems a reasonable question, since the Grabber died at the end of the previous film<\/a>, dispatched by Finn (Mason Thames). But we\u2019re talking about the movie business, after all, and the death of the principal villain proves no impediment to making a sequel if the original film was profitable enough \u2014 which, with a worldwide gross of $160 million, it certainly was. Fortunately, this follow-up arriving four years later is no mere cash grab, but rather an even more stylistically and thematically ambitious effort that mostly succeeds in its aspirations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWhen we\u2019re reintroduced to Finn, it\u2019s clear that he\u2019s still suffering from trauma over his past ordeal. He violently lashes out at a fellow student and spends many of his waking hours in a marijuana-induced haze. It\u2019s no wonder, considering what he went through, and it seems perfectly understandable that he answers randomly ringing payphones by telling the callers, \u201cSorry, but I can\u2019t help you.\u201d (If you don\u2019t get the reference, you obviously haven\u2019t seen the first film.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tOf course, escaping from the past isn\u2019t so easy when his younger sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), begins suffering from horrible dreams in which she channels not only their late mother (Anna Lore), who died by suicide, but also three young boys who we eventually learn were murdered by the Grabber in his early killing days and whose bodies have gone undiscovered. The visions ultimately lead her and Finn to Alpine Lake, a Christian camp located in the Rocky Mountains, where they naturally get stranded during a fierce blizzard.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIt turns out that death hasn\u2019t really slowed down the Grabber, who seems intent on getting revenge against Finn even from the depths of Hell. Much like Freddy Krueger, he\u2019s able to wreak psychic and physical violence on people from within their dreams, making Gwen particularly vulnerable to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tDirector Scott Derrickson and his co-screenwriter Robert Cargill seem to know that their convoluted storyline is a lot of hooey, but they lean into it so emphatically that we just go with it. They do manage to invest the horrific proceedings with genuine emotion in their depiction of the tortured family dynamics between the two siblings and their father (Jeremy Davies, repeating his role). And they inject interesting religious themes in their treatment of Christianity, the more repressive aspects of which are demonstrated by a pair of officious husband-and-wife camp employees (Graham Abbey, Maev Beaty).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tEvery horror film needs a great villain, and this burgeoning franchise definitely has one with the Grabber. Largely hidden behind a series of genuinely scary, demonic-looking masks, Hawke delivers one for the ages, using his cigarette-ravaged, raspy voice to chilling effect in a virtuosic, mostly voice portrayal that seems destined for future installments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThames and McGraw, repeating their roles, are absolutely terrific as the traumatized teens willing to do battle with evil, and there are sterling supporting turns from Demi\u00e1n Bichir as the camp\u2019s sympathetic owner and Arianna Rivas (A Working Man<\/a><\/em>) as his spunky niece. In an example of stunt casting that actually works, Miguel Mora, who played one of the Grabber\u2019s victims in the first film, now plays the victim\u2019s brother, who forms a romantic connection with Gwen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tDerrickson is no stranger to the horror genre, having helmed not only the first Black Phone<\/em> but also such films as Sinister<\/em> and The Exorcism of Emily Rose<\/em>. He exerts stylistic mastery over the material, using both Super 8 and Super 16 film for the nightmarish sequences to truly eerie effect. Not to mention the unsettling score by Atticus Derrickson, his son, that will do nothing to lower your blood pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThere are times when Black Phone 2<\/em> wears its stylistic influences \u2014 including not only the Nightmare on Elm Street<\/em> films but many other horror movies from the \u201880s \u2014 too heavily on its sleeve. But the extensive borrowings are easily forgiven when the set pieces are delivered with the sort of panache that they are here.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Grabber strikes back from the dead in Scott Derrickson’s follow-up to the 2021 hit, also featuring Demian Bichir, Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1223289,"featured_media":1236398089,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"override_post_title":"","override_post_excerpt":"","authors":[],"contributors":[],"styled_by":[],"_image_credit":"","_wp_attachment_image_alt":"","pmc_selected_wwd_video_media":"","pmc_top_video_source":"","pmc_top_video_duration":"","wwd_top_video_source":"","wwd_top_video_duration":"","pmc_selected_featured_media":"","pmc_selected_video_media":"","pmc_selected_variety_video_media":"","variety_top_video_source":"","variety_top_video_duration":"","pmc_featured_media_has_alt_text":true,"_pmc_featured_animated_media_id":0,"_pmc_featured_video_override_data":"","_pmc_featured_video_override_url":"","_pmc_featured_video_response_data":"","pmc-gallery-linked-gallery":{},"pmc_list_item_description":"","primary_category":"","primary_vertical":"","_mt_pmc_exclude_from_seo":"","_pmc_opengraph_title":"","_pmc_opengraph_description":"","categories":59,"subcategories":114,"thr-review-summary-credits":"Release date<\/strong>: Friday, Oct. 17
Cast<\/strong>: Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Demian Bichir, Miguel Mora, Jeremy Davies, Arianna Rivas
Director<\/strong>: Scott Derrickson
Screenwriters<\/strong>: Scott Derrickson, C. Robert Cargill
","thr-full-credit":"Production: Blumhouse Productions, Crooked Highway
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Demian Bichir, Miguel Mora, Jeremy Davies, Arianna Rivas
Director: Scott Derrickson
Screenwriters: Scott Derrickson, C. Robert Cargill
Producers: Jason Blume, Scott Derrickson, C. Robert Cargill
Executive producers: Joe Hill, Adam Hendricks, Ryan Turek
Director of photography: P\u00e4r M. Ekberg
Production designer: Patti Podesta
Editor: Louise Ford
Costume designer: Amy Andrews Harrell
Composer: Atticus Derrickson
Casting: Terri Taylor, Sarah Domeier Lindo, Ally Conover
","thr-review-mpaa-rating":"R","thr-review-running-time":"1 hour 54 minutes","_synopsis":"It's a grabber.","_air_date":"00-00-00","pmc-imdb-id":"","pmc-review-type":"movie-reviews","pmc-review-rating":"","pmc-review-rating-out-of":"","pmc-review-snippet":"","pmc-review-title":"Black Phone 2","pmc-review-canonical-link":"","pmc-theatrical-release-date":0,"pmc-director":"","pmc-review-image_attachment_id":0,"thr_post_headlines":"The Grabber strikes back from the dead in Scott Derrickson's follow-up to the 2021 hit, also featuring Demian Bichir, Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw.","_variety-sub-heading":"","mt_seo_title":"'The Black Phone 2' Film Review: Ethan Hawke in Solid Horror Sequel","mt_seo_description":"Ethan Hawke's the Grabber strikes back from the dead in 'Black Phone 2,' director Scott Derrickson's follow-up to his hit 2021 horror film. ","mt_pmc_exclude_from_seo":"off","_pmc_canonical_override":"","instant_articles_should_submit_post":false,"_sailthru_selected_alerts":[],"_sailthru_send_override":false,"_sailthru_alert_subject":"","_sailthru_breaking_news_meta_data":[],"experimental_features_inline_styles":"","linked_video_id":"","pmc_hubs_hide_header":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-10-16T18:16:16Z","apple_news_api_id":"b51c7ea8-ebaa-4213-a291-68744daf26ad","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-10-16T18:55:27Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AtRx-qOuqQhOikWh0Ta8mrQ","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_pmc_automated_related_links":{"settings":{"module_name":"Related","hide_box":0},"data":[{"url":"","id":"","title":"","automated":true},{"url":"","id":"","title":"","automated":true}]},"overlay_text_placement":[],"overlay_text_one":[],"overlay_text_two":[],"pmc-gallery":[],"kicker_meta_block_field":[],"_pmc_kicker":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[114,59],"tags":[7049,3695,6837,10880],"post_format":[],"_post-options":[],"pmc_ads_suppression":[],"hashtags":[],"ep_custom_result":[],"editorial":[],"coauthors":[59322],"class_list":["post-1236401733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-movies","tag-demian-bichir","tag-ethan-hawke","tag-jeremy-davies","tag-scott-derrickson-0"],"apple_news_notices":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/black-phone-2-review-ethan-hawke-1236401733\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"‘Black Phone 2’ Review: Ethan Hawke Returns for More Virtuoso Demonic Tormenting in an Effective Horror Sequel","url":"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/black-phone-2-review-ethan-hawke-1236401733\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/black-phone-2-review-ethan-hawke-1236401733\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2596_D033_00212RV2-H-2025.jpg?w=200&h=200&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2596_D033_00212RV2-H-2025.jpg"},"articleSection":"Movie Reviews","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Frank Scheck"}],"creator":["Frank Scheck"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Hollywood Reporter","logo":""},"keywords":["demian bichir","ethan hawke","jeremy davies","scott derrickson"],"dateCreated":"2025-10-16T18:16:10Z","datePublished":"2025-10-16T18:16:10Z","dateModified":"2025-10-16T22:55:01Z","pmc-gallery-linked-gallery":{}},"rendered":"