Knock on Wood

Sequels are where horror franchises either thrive or die…or, in some cases, both. The follow-ups to films like Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street actually ended up defining the franchises (for example, Jason Voorhees’ iconic hockey mask look didn’t arrive until Friday the 13th Part III, and Freddy Krueger’s wise-cracking persona wasn’t honed until his third appearance), but eventually, they taper into direct-to-DVD oblivion (Hellraiser, Puppet Master, etc). Horror movies are a better bet at the box office than ever before, but along with success comes the compulsion to expand.

That’s part of the reason why Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, the mad creatives behind 2022’s period horror hit The Black Phone, firmly decided not to do a sequel until a good enough idea struck them. That idea came from Joe Hill, author of the original source material, and it’s the reason Black Phone 2 hits theaters in just one short week.

Their gambit may have paid off; Black Phone 2 is a smart foil to its predecessor, inverting much of its mechanics – protagonist, setting, premise – to great effect. It swaps out dank basement grime for a snow-laden landscape, providing an all-too-clean canvas that begs to be decorated with stark red blood. That winter photography (especially some choice dream sequences, shot with Super 8 film) is incredibly striking, and establishes a distinct visual language that sets it apart from almost every other horror movie you could think to compare it to.

Black Phone 2 picks up four years after Finney (Mason Thames) killed the notorious child murderer, the Grabber (Ethan Hawke), and though his memories still haunt him, he’s tried his best to move on. He’s now in high school with his younger sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), but the terror isn’t through with them yet. Gwen’s psychic abilities bring her nightmares of long-dead victims at a Colorado mountain camp, and she begins to suspect that the Grabber may not be fully gone.

Madeleine McGraw is the star of Black Phone 2. Her supporting turn is bolstered into a leading role, and her energy and anguish command every moment she’s on-screen. Much of the dialogue, especially hers, is cringeworthy and cheesy, but it largely makes sense – these are ’80s kids, and Black Phone 2 has all the sensibilities of an ’80s movie…it just so happens to have been made in 2025. I fully buy Gwen as a rebellious teen, plagued by visions and haunted by questions she never thought to ask, while exploring her identity as a young woman, including an awkward romance with classmate Ernesto (Miguel Mora, who played Ernesto’s twin brother Robin in the first film). Demián Bichir is another notable addition to the cast as camp supervisor Armando – he provides a necessary gravitas that can instantaneously be reverse-engineered into much-needed humor. It’s a skill not many actors possess, and Bichir has it in spades.

Regular Knock on Wood readers may know that I’m not the biggest fan of modern jump scares (that dislike has become exacerbated in the last decade by an over-reliance in most studio horror pictures in lieu of tension and suspense), so I am thrilled to report that Black Phone 2 is far more interested in creeping you out than giving you a half-second jolt. That isn’t to say the film is jump scare-free, but when it does employ the tactic, it’s in service of ratcheting up the tension that’s already been building instead of lazily attempting to keep your attention. It’s infinitely more effective, and the barren, snowy setting is perfect for it – it’s wide and expansive, but in the dark, it feels small and claustrophobic just the same. That’s a credit to Derrickson’s deft direction and cinematographer Pär M. Ekberg’s alert camera stylings.

Black Phone 2 may be a wintry riff on a Dream Warriors concept, but with Derrickson back in the driver’s seat and Hawke (along with his captivating devil mask) wielding the ax, it’s no less an impressive feat than its predecessor. It’s a perfect sequel pitch, playing within the established supernatural rules of this world while expanding the purview of what’s possible. Go big without going too big.

Black Phone 2 opens in theaters nationwide on October 17.