BLACK PHONE 2

With Black Phone 2, Derrickson expands the world of the first film, taking risks and veering far from the original blueprint. The story unfolds in 1982, several years after the initial events: Finney (Mason Thames) can't help but dwell on his ordeal in the basement of the psychopath known as Rapace, trying to rebuild his life with his sister Gwen (once again played by Madeleine McGraw), who still suffers from disturbing nighttime visions. Their apparent peace shatters when Gwen discovers her new visions are connected to their mother, who died by suicide when they were children, and to a Midwest summer camp where she had worked as an instructor. Gwen, Finn, and their friend Ernesto set out for Alpine Lake, near a frozen lake, where the holiday season has been postponed due to a violent snowstorm. In this place, haunted by the ghosts of the past, the truth about Rapace seems to be hidden. Black Phone 2 starts off slowly and hesitantly. Derrickson spends almost an hour before the story truly comes alive, devoting too much time to repetitive dream sequences and moments focused on Gwen's visions. Yet those dreams aren't mere fillers; visually, they're highly evocative and directly recall the cursed super8 reels from Sinister, another cult classic by the director. Derrickson has a rare gift for conjuring terror through imagery: his horror is made up of visual suggestions, lighting effects, and carefully framed shots that disturb more than any "jump scare." However, in Black Phone 2, this talent is diluted over an excessive runtime (almost two hours) that would have benefited from tighter editing. When the film finally picks up in the second half, Black Phone 2 becomes a concentrate of pure horror. Here, Derrickson enjoys blending influences from genre classics, especially the A Nightmare On Elm Street saga and Friday the 13th. From the former, he borrows the idea of an entity acting through dreams: Rapace is a variant of Freddy Krueger, a shadow that observes, stalks, and kills, moving between sleep and wakefulness. From Friday the 13th, he takes the summer camp setting, the suspicious instructors, and the lake—here frozen and spectral—that becomes the stage for the finale. Even Rapace's movements evoke Jason Voorhees, with a heavy, menacing gait and an axe always ready to strike. Rapace's new look is frightening and evocative: no longer just a masked serial killer, but a supernatural creature with almost animal features, a blend of demon (the mask always said it all) and specter. Making him less human and more symbolic works, restoring that iconic dimension to his image and making him a perfect boogeyman. On the casting front, Derrickson continues to focus on young actors. Madeleine McGraw, who was the co-star in the first film, becomes the true emotional core of the story here. She carries the film with ease and brings credibility to its most visionary moments, balancing vulnerability and determination. Mason Thames returns alongside her, recently seen in Dragon Trainer, giving his character greater confidence and courage. Jeremy Davis also returns as the father and, of course, Ethan Hawke behind the mask of the demonic Rapace. The final act, set on the frozen lake, is anthology-worthy: perfectly calibrated tension, extraordinary visual impact, and a crescendo culminating in a sequence that blends suspense, splatter fun, and a visionary touch. It's here that Black Phone 2 reaches its finest form, reminding us why Derrickson is one of the few mainstream directors able to build horror with indie cinema logic. It's a pity the film reaches this point only after a first hour weighed down by narrative redundancies. Had the introduction been trimmed and the development made tighter, Black Phone 2 might have become a minor classic of contemporary horror. As it stands, it's an effective sequel, visually rich and true in spirit, but somewhat unbalanced between ambition and restraint, and ultimately inferior to the first chapter.