'Black Phone 2' Star Says Sequel Evokes 'A Nightmare on Elm Street'

When horror fans first heard a sequel to The Black Phone was coming, there was excitement—but also confusion. Didn’t the Grabber , the diabolical child killer, die at the end of the 2021 movie, enabling his would-be final victim to escape? Of course he did! But with the existence of ghosts already established thanks to the Grabber’s haunted basement phone, there’s a ready-made avenue for the villain to return in Black Phone 2 . And according to Mason Thames, who plays the very lucky Finney, the Grabber (again played by Ethan Hawke) reminded him of another diabolical child killer who returns from the grave.

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly , Thames said the Grabber—who comes back to torment the teenage Finney via the dreams of his younger sister, Gwen (Madeleine M