Black Phone 2 was definitely… an experience. Although I’ve encountered many harsh critics, I don’t think this one is worth such criticism. However, I also don’t think it’s a 5-star, brand-new horror classic. In the critic’s eye, it’s important to see more than what “moves” on the screen, but you also have to consider aspects like photography, soundtrack, styling, editing, visual effects, and more. As much as the script did not please me for most of it, the direction (Scott Derrickson) and overall production were pleasing.
Heads up for a few spoilers!
The story
The new movie shows the psychological consequences of the trauma lived by Finn (Mason Thames) during the first one: the bloody abduction by the Grabber (Ethan Hawke), his survival, and ending with having to kill the kidnapper to escape. It led to addiction and severe anger issues that affect his social life as a whole. After four years of trying to live a normal life, the teenager finds himself haunted by ghosts of the past: his sister Gwen (Madeline McGraw), who inherited their mom’s medium abilities, is now being targeted by the Grabber. Now, he needs to dive deep into his memories and try to save not only his sister, but other characters presented.
First, the crucial point for me was how the story was presented: the beginning was slow and confusing, and the ending was too rushed. The production was finished in January, the movie was released in October, and there was plenty of time to see how the ending was thrown at the audience’s face way too fast. For around 1h20m, I was already wondering if they would be able to defeat the Grabber again, since all they knew was to fall for his traps and just wouldn’t start to solve the mystery.
Unwrapping the movie
At the beginning, I got the vibe of an indie movie: the effects, filming, coloring, and unnecessarily long presentation already got me questioning if the timing was actually organized by the writers and director. My honest opinion is that a horror movie is still a movie, so getting jump scared inexplicably for over an hour is not a good development. But the last 30 minutes got wild. You may think it’s enough, but these include the credits. With the mystery getting solved, it’s all chaos, pans flying, blood and fire burning. New characters didn’t get properly introduced; they just hopped into the fight, and there was practically no individual story.
Over all the scripted mess, the acting paid off: an excellent performance by Madeleine McGraw and Ethan Hawke, and others do not fall much behind. Now being the main character, she’s now the main victim of the Grabber, so many tears were shed, and many screams were needed to expose the agony of being a target. Legendary Ethan Hawke doesn’t need his face showing to show his skills: the voice, the mannerisms, the psychological evil within his character’s mind are simply mind-blowing. Young Mason Thames also delivered an incredible performance of a Finney trying to keep his “tough guy” posture while having to deal with such a nightmare all over again, but sometimes I would feel that in these emotional scenes, there was still something to come out, to bring the audience with him into the agony.
What kept me through was the photography and soundtrack. As said in the movie, Ice also burns, so all the snow scenes were perfectly executed: the colors talk to you, and there are subtle shifts bringing harmony to a rollercoaster, and the atmosphere follows it. I didn’t live the 80s, but going to watch the movie with my dad gave me a perspective of how daily life was: music, Television, clothing, cars, and houses’ aesthetic. Once again, styling did an amazing job, and everything seemed accurate. And the music was perfectly chosen to represent the main characters’ feelings, not running away from the times pictured in the movie.
Black Phone 2 seems like a small tribute to A Nightmare On Elm Street, and is worth watching if you are curious about the mysticism around medium skills, the world of dreams, and where we would go when our bodies rest.
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The article above was edited by Beatriz Gatz.
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