The Black Phone 2 review: Ethan Hawke is back from the dead in a sequel that goes full ‘Friday the 13th’

When a horror movie hits, a sequel usually follows very closely. The Black Phone was a critical and commercial success in 2021, so it’s surprising it’s taken four years for a follow-up. That wait, though, turns out to be a very smart move. Four years have also passed in ’s reality.

That time has not healed Finn and his sister Gwen (again played by Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw). In the original, 13-year-old Finn was kidnapped by serial child-killer ‘The Grabber’ (Ethan Hawke) and kept in a basement, awaiting execution. Finn bested the killer with the help of past victims, who contacted him by phone from beyond the grave, and his sister’s peculiar premonitions.

Finn’s trauma has curdled into aggression and a class-B drug habit, which he hopes will blur his constant terror. T