It is October, and what which means: it is spooky season. Halloween is simply across the nook, and although this month is lighter on conventional, splashy horror motion pictures, Blumhouse has seen match to offer us one two weeks forward of the massive vacation: Black Telephone 2. Because the sequel to a film with an 81% Rotten Tomatoes rating, it comes with some excessive expectations.
Now, relating to the movies I make certain to look at each October, I have a tendency to stay to cozy classics like Halloweentown, Hocus Pocus, and Sensible Magic. Latest years have seen me branching out in direction of extra conventional horror — Scream, It, Prepared or Not, and many others. Nevertheless, Black Telephone 2 looks like fairly the step-up for my spooky season viewing.
If you happen to’ve been following together with me on this journey, you may perceive how vital it’s after I say that Black Telephone 2 is the scariest film I’ve watched thus far for the Scaredy Cat’s Information. The final entry, The Lengthy Stroll, was extra tense than outright scary, and Weapons had sufficient thriller and humor to distract from the frights.
Although Black Telephone 2 is not with out some surprising laughs, it’s the most simple horror film I’ve tackled for this venture. One take a look at Ethan Hawke’s The Grabber will provide you with a sign of what we’re coping with right here — he’s undoubtedly to not be underestimated. It did not assist that I needed to see this film alone, when usually I might carry a buddy.
Breaking Down The Scares & Gore Of Black Telephone 2
If you happen to’re not aware of the unique Black Telephone film, be warned that entering into the fundamental premise of the sequel comes with spoilers. It is a movie the place it is good to look at the primary one forward of time. I personally caught up final weekend, so actually I’ve watched two scary motion pictures for this. Be proud!
4 years after The Black Telephone, Finney (Mason Thames) and Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) should once more confront The Grabber when he returns to torment them — this time from past the grave. Gwen’s prophetic goals carry them to a snow-shrouded sleepaway camp, which holds devastating ties to each The Grabber and Finney and Gwen’s household.
The largest content material warnings for this film pertain to the gore and the bounce scares. With the previous, there are a selection of bloody photographs due to Gwen’s visions, which contain murdered youngsters. Basically, if the concept of useless youngsters is an excessive amount of, this isn’t the horror franchise for you.
Past that, there’s blood as soon as The Grabber enters the image — and his personal look may be gross to see — however it largely performs out via motion scenes. Essentially the most intense situations of gore come via the victims, and the identical is definitely true for the scares.
Director Scott Derrickson is expert at ramping up pressure with out forecasting precisely when a bounce scare is coming. It is usually abrupt — as bounce scares normally are — and at some extent whenever you had been already burdened about what was taking place. If suspense basically is upsetting for you, there’s plenty of that in Black Telephone 2, so remember.
As beforehand talked about, there may be some humor within the movie, largely via one-liners. Nevertheless, it is not fairly as a lot of a comedy as Weapons turned out to be, so do not count on an excessive amount of levity. Essentially the most uplifting side of Black Telephone 2 is the connection between Finney and Gwen, in addition to their bonds with different characters. There’s an underlying message about grief and concern right here that many would possibly discover impactful.
The Closing Verdict On Black Telephone 2
With solely two motion pictures, The Grabber has grow to be a formidable horror villain who could possibly be counted amongst Ghostface and Michael Myers by way of notoriety. He is an interesting character, and Hawke provides a superb efficiency that is value testing. Nevertheless, The Grabber undoubtedly is not for everybody.
My most excessive fellow scaredy cats probably will not have an excellent time with Black Telephone 2. I got here out of it okay, however there have been a number of scenes the place I wanted I used to be watching one thing a lot, a lot lighter. Anybody with a decrease tolerance than me, notably relating to blood, will wish to keep clear.
Nevertheless, for those who’re unsure about the place you would possibly stand, watching the primary film is an effective approach to gauge it. The Black Telephone is at the moment streaming on Peacock, which implies you might watch it from the protection of your sofa, and with all of the lights on if wanted. Derrickson’s type of horror is on show there and will provide you with a transparent concept of what to anticipate.
Extra strong horror followers can have an excellent time with the sequel, particularly because it takes a distinct strategy to its story this time round. It is not like Scream or Halloween, which are likely to have a system; The Grabber is in a distinct realm now, and so too is his film.
If you happen to’re searching for real frights on the massive display this Halloween, Black Telephone 2 is the best way to go. For everybody else, the entire Halloweentown franchise is on Disney+ — get pleasure from!
- Launch Date
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October 17, 2025
- Runtime
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114 Minutes
- Director
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Scott Derrickson
- Writers
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C. Robert Cargill, Scott Derrickson, Joe Hill
- Producers
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Jason Blum, C. Robert Cargill