Black Phone 2 review: Silly horror sequel is a vast improvement but that's not saying much

Black Phone 2 is the rare horror sequel that certainly improves on its predecessor, though your mileage may vary when it comes to how much.

It’s easy to see how director Scott Derrickson’s supernatural serial killer thriller The Black Phone spawned a franchise that could continue for years to come.

Despite its familiar premise, sparse scares and endless plot holes, the prospect of Ethan Hawke chewing scenery as a flamboyant yet chilling horror villain was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

Throw in a nostalgic period setting, some familiar Stephen King-isms inherited by his son, Joe Hill, who penned the original short story of the same name, and a Scream-inspired mask and the first film ticked a lot of boxes.

The result was far, far less than the sum of its parts, however; a tired and derivative jump scare-athon with one of Hawke’s worst performances and a plot that unravels faster than a telephone chord.

Nevertheless, it managed to earn over $160 million against an $18 million budget, so here’s the sequel.

After his face-off with the Grabber four years ago, teenager Finney Blake (played by Mason Thames) is struggling to shake off the past, self-medicating with marijuana and picking fights with students.

This attempt to pick apart the effects of trauma is quickly abandoned, though, when his sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) starts to experience strange visions of a group of youngsters being mutilated at a Christian camp.

Suspecting something nefarious is at play, they hitch a ride with Ernesto (Miguel Mora), the brother of one of the Grabber’s victims from the first film, to investigate.

Lo and behold, the sinister marked predator has returned, this time in full Freddy Krueger mode as he begins to stalk the dreams of Finney’s psychic sister.

To give Black Phone 2 credit where it’s due, the elevated supernatural scares and chilly winter setting definitely make for a vastly more interesting sandbox for Derrickson’s toys of choice. Where the original felt limited and claustrophobic, here the Grabber has a vast, frozen lake and plenty of nooks and crannies in the rickety camp cabins and surrounding forest to play around in.

The supporting cast is also expanded to include a rather charming romantic interest for Gwen in the form of geeky but confident Ernesto, camp supervisor Armando (Demián Bichir) provides some level-headedness while his niece Mustang (Arianna Rivas) makes a big entrance but fades into the background.

A special mention also goes to Maev Beaty as Barbara, the camp’s fundamentalist Karen who’s straight from a King novel and has “comeuppance” written all over her forehead after the very first words she says to occult enthusiast Gwen.

There’s also a welcome stylistic element this time around as the young mystic’s ominous sleepwalking nightmares are filmed in grainy lo-fi, somewhat evoking the grungy videotape killings of the director’s 2012 hit Sinister, still his best film to date.

Unfortunately, it quickly becomes clear that these analogue midnight wanderings are the film’s best and perhaps only trick, as almost every other beat is cribbed straight from the handbooks of decades-old horror franchises.

The Grabber’s nightmare invasions? A Nightmare on Elm Street. Camp killer stalking his young prey? Friday the 13th. Hawke’s vengeful slasher spirit even dons ice skates to ludicrously glide over the camp’s frozen lake of secrets in one torturously extended sequence, and it’s hard not to imagine the conversation over whether or not he should also fit himself with a Jason Voorhees-esque hockey mask to make sure the reference really sticks.

At about the halfway point, it thankfully becomes clear that Derrickson is more concerned with having fun than delivering genuine scares this time around, so horrorheads should find it easy to lean into the silliness.

Still, it’s hard not to feel a little disappointed that the director of Sinister, which has been described as scientifically the scariest movie of all time, hasn’t been able to raise his audience’s heart rates to that same level more than a decade later.

Black Phone 2 is in UK cinemas from Friday, 17th October.