Black Phone 2 Recasts Grabber as Supernatural Threat

A supernatural, undead incarnation of Ethan Hawke’s masked killer the Grabber returns to torment surviving victim Finney Blake while his sister Gwen—both siblings now depicted as possessing premonitions and the ability to speak with the dead—is plagued by prophetic nightmares. The siblings travel to the Alpine Lake camp, where a blizzard strands them, an old phone booth rings, and the Grabber’s voice and otherworldly assaults begin to bleed dreams into reality. Critics say the sequel shifts from the grounded, human horror of the first film toward a stylized, Freddy Krueger–like dream-invasion approach that increases the villain’s franchise potential but undermines some of the original’s tension. Several reviewers argue that making the Grabber less human and more purely maleficent sacrifices some of the nuance in Hawke’s performance. The film opened well, has generated franchise buzz, and has spotlighted rising genre talents such as Anna Lore, while cast members promote the sequel as “more twisted than ever.”