Horror fans are celebrating the release of a trailer for what they call one of the most “terrifying” films in recent history.
Black Phone 2, the sequel to the supernatural horror-thriller Black Phone, which was released in the UK in 2022, stars Ethan Hawke as a serial child abductor nicknamed “The Grabber”.
Throughout the film, one of his victims uses a mysterious telephone to communicate with fellow children and teenagers who have previously been captured.
A trailer for the film’s sequel was released on Monday (2 June) and has racked up millions of views and thousands of comments since.
“The first Black Phone is one of my favourite scary movies in the last decade,” wrote one person. “I don’t know how the sequel will be, but if they capture the feeling of the first I’m in.”
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Another added: “ I watched the first movie when it came out and it was a life-changing experience for me.”
“The first one was the best horror I saw in a long time,” added a third.
“I didn’t think the film needed a sequel, this one is fascinating. Continue making terrifying films!” commented one social media user.
The film’s director Scott Derrickson opened up about the pressures to live up to fan expectations of the first, as he explained what they could expect in the sequel.
“There’s definitely a different thematic thing going on,” he told Collider.
“I think the first Black Phone is more of a supernatural thriller than it is a horror film. I’ve always thought that. It’s classified as a horror film because of some of the extremities it gets into.
“But when you make a high school horror film of any kind, there’s a certain expectation for it to satisfy an audience’s desire for some elevated, escalated horror. So, this film is more graphic. It’s more violent. It’s bloodier.”
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Universal’s plot synopsis for the film confirms the original protagonist, Finn (Mason Thames) will return, with his sister the new subject of Hawke’s apparently resurrected villain: “As Finn, now 17, struggles with life after his captivity, the headstrong 15-year-old Gwen begins receiving calls in her dreams from the black phone and seeing disturbing visions of three boys being stalked at a winter camp known as Alpine Lake.”
It continues: “Determined to solve the mystery and end the torment for both her and her brother, Gwen persuades Finn to visit the camp during a winter storm. There, she uncovers a shattering intersection between The Grabber and her own family’s history.
“Together, she and Finn must confront a killer who has grown more powerful in death and more significant to them than either could imagine.”
