Horror has always had a moral element, from the monsters conjured in folk tales to scare children into good behavior, to the Puritan streak in slasher movies that punish teens who do drugs and have sex. But rarely has morality been so stridently vulgar and unapologetically Christian as it is Black Phone 2. Where else would you see a teen girl call out a condescending church mom for failing to take seriously the death of young boys by asking, “Were you always such a sanctimonious twat?”

Yes, Black Phone 2 is often moral and frequently moralizing. But it delivers its message with such energy, and its kills with such skill, that it transcends preachiness and remains effective horror cinema.

Black Phone 2 catches up with the now 17-year-old Finn Blake (Mason Thames) and his psychic sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) four years after their traumatic encounter with the Grabber (Ethan Hawke). Even though he killed the Grabber at the end of the previous movie, Finn remains haunted, at least figuratively. He enters the film beating to a pulp a new kid at his high school who teases him about his exploits with the Grabber, and seems to have picked up a pot-smoking habit, which the film frames as a corollary to the alcoholism of his father (Jeremy Davies). Conversely Gwen seems to be maturing much better, ready to explore dating with Ernesto (Miguel Mora), younger bother of a prior Grabber victim, and able to handle her psychic visions.

That is until she starts dreaming of phone calls from her mother in 1958, years before she committed suicide to escape from such visions. The mother’s calls inspire Finn, Gwen, and Ernesto to drive to the Christian camp that mama once attended—before it was shut down because three boys disappeared. Working alongside the camp’s kindly new proprietor (Demián Bichir, bringing warmth and gravitas to a small part), the trio uncovers a deep family connection to the Grabber.

If that sounds like a lot of plot for a slasher movie, well, it is. And in its weakest moments, Black Phone 2 does stumble to trudge through its narrative mechanics, especially as it spells out the lore connecting the Grabber to to Gwen and Finn’s mother.

Director Scott Derrickson, returning to the franchise alongside co-writer and frequent collaborator C. Robert Cargill, wants to make a larger point about heaven and hell and the actions of people on Earth who do nothing to care for children. This script lacks the elegance of its predecessor, which could have something to do with it hewing more closely to the Joe Hill story that it adapted. While some phone conversations do get repeated in different contexts throughout the sequel, none of them have the impact of the first film’s climax.

However, Derrickson and Cargill more than make up for the lack of elegance with the film’s incredibly staged attack and kill sequences. Throughout the movie, Gwen has visions of murders perpetuated by the Grabber, which Derrickson renders in grainy Super-8 film stock. Although he pulled a similar trick in his 2012 breakout Sinister, Derrickson manages to make the effect feel fresh and eerily vibrant here. He succeeds also in part because of McGraw’s incredible performance as Gwen, who has proven that her work in the previous film wasn’t just a foul-mouthed gimmick. Even beyond the jump scares and grisly imagery that accompanies the dream sequences, McGraw makes Gwen’s vulnerability feel real.

The dream sequences also succeed because they call back to one of the most beloved horror franchise, A Nightmare on Elm Street. Now dispatched to an icy Hell (literally), the Grabber operates not unlike Freddy Krueger, invading Gwen’s dreams and wreaking havoc on her real body—havoc that looks to the outside observer as if she’s flailing and convulsing. The Freddy similarities give Hawke license to make the Grabber even more playful than he was in the previous film, which keeps the killer feeling fresh in his return appearance.

Derrickson further helps Black Phone 2 stand out because of its setting. Anyone who spent time in wintry Christian camps of decades past (eg, this writer) recognizes the verisimilitude brought about by graffiti-riddled bunk beds and wide, yawning chilled cabins. The sound design takes full advantage of the snowy locale, making every crunch and howl of wind feel like a harbinger of doom, especially when supplemented by the film’s atonal score by Atticus Derrickson.

To its credit, the film ties its Christian camp setting into the movie’s theme, given a well-worn trope about parents ignoring threats against children an updated feel. We’re used to seeing grown-ups let children die, it’s the teens who try to warn the town in The Blob, or Nancy Thompson being locked in her Elm Street house by her own mother. But when Gwen curses those who hide behind their faith when children are in peril, Black Phone 2 skates right out of its 1984 setting and into the present day.

The Black Phone 2 releases in theaters on Oct. 17, 2025.

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