‘Black Phone 2’ Is a Mess

‘Black Phone 2’ Is a Mess

Header Image Source: Universal Pictures

Babe, I love a good, unexpected horror sequel, even one with a gross shift in tone. It worked for Orphan and M3GAN , so why not The Black Phone ? Well, in another life, it might have, but the follow-up to the spooky, scary first film outing of The Grabber seems to have run so far from its tone that it left behind everything that made it work.

Finney and Gwen (Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw) are still haunted by their narrow escape from The Grabber (Ethan Hawke), albeit in different ways. Finney still carries around a bubbling rage and the sound of a ringing phone, and Gwen remains haunted by vivid dreams that read like messages from another plane. After answering a call on the titular black phone from within