BLACK PHONE 2

Taking place in 1982, four years after ‘Black Phone’, siblings Finney (Mason Thames) and Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) are still dealing with their lingering trauma after encountering the Grabber (Ethan Hawke) – a child serial killer previously dispatched by Finney. Gwen is plagued by visions of three past murders at a Christian youth camp where their mother once worked. They decide to go to the camp during a blizzard with Gwen’s friend Ernesto in tow, and get snowed in. Before too long they find themselves haunted and hunted by the Grabber’s evil spirit, who contacts them via a black phone and can now attack Gwen in her dreams. In order to survive they must find the bodies of the three deceased kids and strip the Grabber of his power. That’s the long synopsis. The short one is that a the Grabber is resurrected as a ghost and turns up seeking revenge. Maybe watching the first film would’ve helped me connect more to this one, but I found the plot to be nonsense – especially the supernatural revival of the Grabber. As a horror movie it was devoid of scares and seemed like an unnecessary sequel whose aim was purely to capitalise financially on its popular predecessor. A pet peeve of mine is also is actors who cry without tears, and McGraw’s performance in the final scenes raised my ire with this. The only part I enjoyed was a blasting rendition of Pink Floyd’s ‘Another brick in the wall’. Underwhelming and hopefully the end.