This sequel is well -dreamy dream warriors [Fantastic Fest]

Scott Derrickson’s horror film in 2021 “The Black Phone” was a huge surprise: an adaptation of a news from 2004 of the same name of Joe Hill who struck the general public, and for a good reason. The film was frightening and fun, with a huge heart, big laughs, an incredible villain mask. He presented Exceptional Performances by Ethan Hawke as a terrifying Grabber, Mason Thames as a last kidnapping victim, Finney Blake, and Madeleine MCGRAW as a sister of Finney, Gwen. It was a film with a clear and final end, content to leave its brand and end it at an exclamation point rather than an ellipse.

A sequel had a meaning, of course, from a commercial point of view. Not only was “the black phone” a blow to the box office, but The Grabber by Ethan Hawke had such a presence and a strong iconography that he felt as the next big horror bad guy, intended to be exaggerated in many suites. Well, it’s been four years, but we finally got a follow -up – one with a story good enough to convince all the people involved to come back for more.

“Black Phone 2” is a fantastic suite. It is a film that is not content to do the same, just bigger, but which in fact explores new avenues and adds to the experience of the first film in a surprising way which makes the story overall as a whole. It was a great year for horror, and we should add “Black Phone 2” to this conversation.

From the start, “Black Phone 2” reports to the public that it will not be a simple rehearsal of the intrigue of the first film. The director Scott Derrickson and the screenwriter C. Robert Cargill deliver such a different film that he stands out alone, while also serving as an improvement in his predecessor in almost all ways.

It starts with a change of protagonist in Gwen from McGraw, the funniest character in the first film. After all the traumatic test with the Grabber, his brother became quieter and more reserved, choosing to bury his trauma and his feelings at the bottom and has numbed by the grass to ignore what happened to him. Meanwhile, Gwen’s visions have only worsened in the years that since the first film. She considers that her capacity is a curse, and that has transformed it into a social pariah at school. However, she cannot completely ignore what seems to be calls for the help of deceased children who appear to her in visions – visions of a snowy Christian camp to which her own mother attended when she was young.

Determined to go to the source of his visions and find the link between them and his mother, Gwen decides to go to the Alpine Lake camp to investigate. Finney goes with Gwen to protect her because her visions also make her sleep. The accompanying people are Ernesto (Miguel Mora), Robin’s brother, one of the victims of the Grabber before taking Finney.

The emphasis on dreams will obviously make a lot of comparisons with the series “Nightmare on Elm Street”, and for the reason. There are clear similarities and lead nods to this franchise, in particular the “nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors”: the nightmares bleed in the real world, the dreamers have a certain power over their own dreams, and there is a change that takes the fight to the villain. In addition, Ethan Hawke channels Robert Englund by essentially transforming Grabber into Freddy Krueger – with facial scars and capacities that allow it to affect both the real world and the world of dreams.

Whenever we get a dream sequence in “Black Phone 2”, it is presented through significantly granular images, almost as if it was shot on the film Super 8, which recalls the film by Derrickson and Cargill “Sinister” (with also Hawke). The visuals give dream sequences a retro and tactile aesthetic that feels slightly disabled. The sound design stifles the dialogue to clearly indicate that it is a lively dream – the one that feels real, with very real consequences once the Grabber returns and takes place on the attack – but always a dream.

Not content with a tribute to a franchise, “Black Phone 2” also pays tribute to the other Slasher icons of the 80s. There is a very clear wink to “Friday 13” with the framework of the camp and the murderer brandishing an axis tracking the adolescents. It is a more knotty film, sometimes more mean than the first, with horrible images of brutally murdered children, one with a head cut into two gories than the first film.

The most impressive “Black Phone 2” feat is to find a way to bring back the Grabber which seems coherent and which really adds to the character. We obtain a background frame on the children’s abductor who appears to be deepening the character rather than simply answering questions that no one has asked.

Like the first film, there is a great sense of humor in “Black Phone 2”, in particular with regard to Gwen’s Snarky remarks with figures of authority (the Christian youth camp makes hilarious poignant confrontations between Gwen and very non -Christian Christians). But it is Ernesto de Miguel Mora who obtains some of the greatest laughs and serves as fantastic addition to distribution. Similarly, by widening the scope to be on several missing dead children and even the mother of Gwen and Finney, the film becomes quite emotional at the time, with moments of tenderness between darkness and horror.

“Black Phone 2” indicates the start of a greater franchise? No. Does this end in a way that opens more? Not really. Does that make me want to see about 5 others, so that we can arrive at “The Black Phone: New Phone” and the Grabber who goes after Ethan Hawke himself? Absolutely.

/ Film assessment: 9 out of 10.

“Black Phone 2” will call in theaters from October 17, 2025.