Black Phone 2 Should Be Great, But Something’s Holding It Back

Whereas Finney’s character arc culminated with him finally learning to stand up for himself by defeating a serial killer, the sequel is more Gwen’s story. Here, she comes to terms with the full extent of the powers she inherited from her mother even as they put her in harm’s way because of The Grabber’s ability to attack her on the astral plane. This is a smart move not just because it gives a different character a chance to shine, but it makes full use of the genre shift by allowing wholly new takes on the horror sequences. When Gwen is attacked by a foe others can’t see, it makes her come across as isolated from the living cast at the same time her powers connect her with the dead, including her mother. Yet although there’s plenty to praise, Black Phone 2 stumbles in a major area, namely a script that doesn’t do justice to the film’s best creative choices.

On Thin Ice

Black Phone 2 is co-written by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, longtime collaborators who return from the first film. It’s hard to say whether they’re equally responsible for the script’s problems, but the writing is Black Phone 2’s biggest issue because it undercuts the strengths of Derrickson’s direction. Many of the film’s best elements are its visual choices: the decision to shoot the astral plane sequences on 8mm, giving them a grainy, distorted look that adds exponentially to the film’s atmosphere, featuring snowy mountains and frozen lakes as primary locations that are beautiful and ominous in equal measure, or the use of dream logic in key scenes, such as a phone booth materializing on a lake with no immediate justification. However, the movie frays at the seams when characters start talking about these things, often coming across like the filmmakers don’t trust their audience.

The first act is rife with tedious character decisions, such as Finney defaulting to an aimless pothead in his post-Grabber life, or wooden dialogue, including some serious “how do you do fellow kids” lines that make the actors seem like aliens trying to approximate teenage speech patterns. Things improve once Finney and Gwen make their way to a Christian youth camp that their mother worked at decades ago, even if it also uses the contrivance of an all-too convenient blizzard that just so happened to roll in that night. This ensures only the leads and a tiny cohort of camp employees are present and can’t leave as the plot ensues. Add thinly-sketched new faces and the characters treating the events of the first film as sacrosanct (what do you mean “of course everyone’s heard of The Grabber”? Is every serial killer automatically a household name?), and it adds up to a movie that can often feel stifled when people simply start talking.

The worst example of this is the scene following up the reveal that The Grabber killed Finney and Gwen’s mom, instead of the suicide that was suggested by the first film. The reveal itself is expertly done, with The Grabber using their psychic connection to let Gwen watch her mother’s death and her father Terrence (Jeremy Davies) discovering the body afterwards. But instead of allowing the scene to stand on its own as a powerful moment the audience can be trusted to absorb, the movie then has Gwen tearfully explain what happened to both her dad and Finney. It feels less like a family reunion so much as three actors standing around reciting the movie’s Wikipedia synopsis to each other. The writing isn’t always so painfully literal, but the script doesn’t complement Derrickson’s poetic visuals. Sadly, it’s something we’ve seen before in his previous films.

One Step Sideways

Scott Derrickson may not be in the same category as filmmakers who are commonly considered “auteurs,” but he’s been an underrated genre craftsman for many years. As a director with an affinity for horror, he has fairly consistently turned in handsome, commendable entries as far back as 2005 with The Exorcism of Emily Rose, a movie whose blend of courtroom drama and demonic possession has had far more staying power than its initial reviews may suggest. He continued this streak with Sinister, The Black Phone, and now Black Phone 2, making solid three star horror movies his comfort zone. Beyond his love for the genre, Derrickson has an understated but recognizable authorial voice, with a strong eye for building tension, a repeated use of Christian themes and imagery, and a rare gift for drawing great performances out of child actors, which is a talent he used to great effect in the first Black Phone.

Despite all these respectable attributes, none of Derrickson’s movies has become an iconic classic. He’s made multiple movies that evoke The Exorcist, but he’s never made The Exorcist. It all comes down to the fact that his screenplays, often written with collaborators like Cargill or Paul Harris Boardman, have never given him the foundation he needs to let his visuals and thematic interests make his work emotionally resonate with an audience long term. His movies are well-made, fulfill their genre expectations, and are clearly informed by his particular narrative sensibilities, but they don’t linger in the mind months or even years later as the best films do. It’s hard to say whether he hasn’t found the right premise or needs a new co-writer to help his work live up to its potential, but it feels like Derrickson has a great film in him that he hasn’t made yet.

This pattern held true even when he directed a Marvel film, the first Doctor Strange. Commonly considered a middle of the pack MCU entry, it has more going for it than it’s often given credit for. The movie is well-cast, has great and distinctive visuals, and even though it never reaches the same heights as the best of the Infinity Saga when it comes to being a full feature like The Avengers or Captain America: The Winter Soldier, it has specific scenes that are among the best of the Marvel Studios catalog. The Ancient One sending Strange’s astral form on a mindbending journey through the multiverse, Strange using his intellect and mastery of the magical concepts he’s learned to defeat Dormammu via trickery instead of brute force, and the beautiful moment where Strange and the Ancient One speak on the hospital balcony as she’s forced to finally accept her mortality are all fantastic, but they’re shortchanged by the standard Marvel movie script problems like underdeveloped supporting characters and ill-timed humor.

Nearly a decade later, Derrickson is still going strong but also somehow in the same place, and Black Phone 2 speaks to that circumstance. It’s a pretty good movie, but it’s held back by a script that doesn’t afford its characters enough depth and nuance to make it a great movie. Hopefully someday Derrickson crosses that threshold, but for now, Black Phone 2 is yet another entry that exemplifies why its director is still stuck in the doorway.

Carlos Morales writes novels, articles, and Mass Effect essays. You can follow his fixations on Twitter.