Call Me, Maybe?
Directed by Scott Derrickson
Starring Ethan Hawke, Madeleine McGraw, Mason Thames
Released October 17th, 2025
Rated R
Some horror films benefit from a slow burn approach, building dread through spooky, deliberate atmosphere. Black Phone 2 doesn’t do this. Instead, it is a film content to have disconnected payphones ringing off the hook in lieu of creeping terror. Perhaps the younger generation finds payphones to be scary relics of the past, but I have too many mundane memories of digging in my pockets for spare change to make a phone call to my sister when it was time to pick me up from the mall for payphones to be even remotely frightening. Yes, it takes quite some time for anything interesting to happen in Black Phone 2, the clumsily titled horror film that chronicles the continuing (this time posthumous) killing spree of The Grabber (Ethan Hawke).
2021’s The Black Phone followed a young boy named Finney (Mason Thames) who is kidnapped by this grabber guy who wears devil masks. This evil dude locks the kid in a basement with a disconnected telephone. The phone rings, and Finney finds himself speaking to the ghosts of The Grabber’s victims, who offer him assistance in his time of need. The film, directed by Scott Derrickson, was based on a short story by Stephen King’s son Joe Hill, himself an accomplished author. Derrickson returns to helm this follow-up, and as was the case for the first film, he once again shares a screenplay co-writing credit with C. Robert Cargill. In order for me to give a proper review of Black Phone 2, I’m going to have to spoil the end of The Black Phone. Trust me, I do not want to do this, but I see no way around it. If you have not yet seen the first film, go ahead and take a break from reading this review and check it out. Come on back once you’re finished. I’ll wait. I’ve got time.
Okay, have you watched that first film? It was pretty good. Nothing special. Not all that scary. Pretty crazy seeing Ethan Hawke as a bad guy, right? Pretty neat masks, I guess. Finney’s foul-mouthed psychic little sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) was memorable. And then that ending – Finney just straight up kills The Grabber! I guess that’s the last we will see of that guy. Good riddance to bad rubbish. That’s that, then. The end. As a viewer, you would think that the death of The Grabber erases any chance of a sequel, until you realize that life after death is a proven reality in the world of The Black Phone. Those dead kids helped Finney out from beyond the mortal veil! When you think about it that way, why wouldn’t The Grabber rise from his grave to exact his revenge? And that’s exactly what’s going on in Black Phone 2. The Grabber is dead, and he’s not too happy about it.
Set in 1982, four years after the events of the first film, Finney (Thames) is feeling the post traumatic effects of being kidnapped and then speaking to dead kids and then murdering his kidnapper. That’s not the sort of thing you shrug off. He deals with his feelings by beating up school mates or smoking pot. Two very different ways to deal with stress. Meanwhile, his younger sister Gwen (McGraw) is still experiencing sporadic psychic visions, though they have increasingly become scarier. After one of these visions, the pair feel compelled to go to Alpine Lake Camp, where their late mother was a counselor when she was their age. I’m not really sure why, other than that’s what the script says they should do.
Gwen’s psychic visions manifest themselves while she sleepwalks, and so we are treated to a neat lo-fi VHS grainy film stock courtesy of cinematographer Par M. Ekberg any time Gwen is dreaming. The Grabber is strangely somehow able to attack Gwen in her dreams and also go around and attack anyone else while she is dreaming. We see victims being manipulated by an unseen force, floating bodies and such. It’s an obvious nod to Freddy Kruger, but I’m not sure how being dead allows for The Grabber to be a dream warrior. A Nightmare on Elm Street isn’t the only horror film referenced here, as the camp setting brings to mind Friday the 13th, and a sequence with an ice-skating Grabber (for real) recalls the all-but-forgotten horror flick Curtains.
I’m not sure if Ethan Hawke did his own ice-skating, as The Grabber is now apparently stuck in one of his smiling white devil masks for all of eternity. Since Hawke’s face is obscured by masks or gory makeup for the entirety of the sequel, I was left wondering if a stunt man really played the villain on set here, and Hawke merely phoned in his part (pun very much intended). Mason Thames is alright as Finney, though his constant angst is a tad tiring. Madeleine McGraw was a standout in the first film, and for this sequel the filmmakers wisely promoted her to final girl status.
Black Phone 2 is a film with many problems, chief among them is that the villain’s powers and abilities are not clearly defined. Another issue Is the lack of momentum as the story meanders along, devoid of scares. It does not help that “The Grabber” is not a moniker that strikes fear into one’s heart. I find it downright silly. His masks are alright, I guess, but they fall short of evoking a frightening visage iconic enough to stand the test of time in the annals of horror films. I doubt we will hear a third ring from the black phone, but if we do, I’m not sure anyone will be in a hurry to pick up the receiver.