The original “The Black Phone” (2021) follows a boy named Finney who is held captive in the empty basement of a mysterious masked man who is referred to as “the Grabber.” With no other means of escape or contact with the outside world, Finney is devastated when he finds that the lone item in the scarce basement is a phone that is disconnected and cannot be used to call for help. However, spirits of the Grabber’s past victims reach out to Finney through the disconnected phone and guide him in overthrowing the Grabber and saving his own life.
“The Black Phone” touches on themes of abuse and trauma and how they impact a person throughout their lifetime as the viewer learns about the Grabber’s past and what his previous victims experienced.
The plot and graphics of the movie appealed to viewers and landed the movie with an 81% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The only major critique of the movie was that, while it was deemed a horror movie, it seemed less horrific and more thrilling. One Rotten Tomatoes reviewer even said the movie was “trying too hard to be cerebrally scary but failing miserably.” Regardless, it still made a name for itself and brought in approximately $161 million globally.
On Oct. 17, “The Black Phone 2” movie was released. Fans of the original movie flocked to theaters to view the long-awaited sequel, especially due to its release during the Halloween season. Unfortunately, this movie ranked a 72% on the Rotten Tomatoes scale. The question is, what happened from the first movie to the second that made the rating go down, and why were viewers seemingly disappointed?
“The Black Phone 2” continues the original themes of abuse and trauma as it picks up 4 years later with Finney who is now 17 years old. He is dealing with PTSD from his time as the Grabber’s captive. When his sister, Gwen, starts experiencing horrific visions related to her brother’s past experiences, the pair of siblings decide to go back to Alpine Lake, the summer camp where everything started. As it turns out, the Grabber is only stronger in death as he comes back with a fury to seek his revenge.
I’m a lover of all things thriller and horror when it comes to entertainment, but I favor a strong plot and solid characters over glitz and glam (and gore). Personally, it felt as though this defeated the purpose of the themes of the original movie, which made the viewer almost feel sympathy for the Grabber at first after seeing glimpses into his past. It made sense, in a way, that he acted in inhumane ways due to extreme abuse and mental illness.
However, in this new movie, he seems out of control and angry with no real motivation other than seeking revenge against Finney. His behaviors are more chaotic, which adds to the typical horror movie fear factor but takes away from the depth of the Grabber’s character.
Had “The Black Phone 2” been a standalone movie and not a sequel, the character’s ruthless and constantly threatening behaviors may have made more sense. However, I was disappointed that they took the Grabber’s meaning from him
Overall, the second sequel was thrilling and entertaining. It continued the plot of the original in a surprising way, especially by keeping the importance of the spiritual realm alive for the sake of the plot. “The Black Phone 2” was not a flop by any means, but I do wish we’d had more emotion from the Grabber instead of listening to the critic’s reviews about the original movie and shifting the focus to make the sequel more horrific.