Ethan Hawke because the Grabber in ‘Black Cellphone 2’, directed by Scott Derrickson. Picture: Common Footage.
Opening in theaters October 17 is ‘Black Cellphone 2,’ directed by Scott Derrickson and starring Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Jeremy Davies, Demián Bichir, Miguel Mora, and Arianna Rivas.
Launch Date: Oct 17, 2025
Run Time: 1 hr 54 min
Associated Article: ‘The Black Cellphone’s Scott Derrickson to Make New ‘Evening of the Hunter’ Film
Preliminary Ideas
(L to R) Finn (Mason Thames) and The Grabber (Ethan Hawke) in ‘Black Cellphone 2’, written and directed by Scott Derrickson. Picture: Common Footage.
2022’s ‘The Black Cellphone,’ directed by Scott Derrickson from a script by him and C. Robert Cargill (based mostly on a brief story by Joe Hill), was a recent, supernaturally-slanted tackle the serial killer trope, advised by way of the lens of Derrickson’s personal childhood reminiscences of rising up in a working-class Denver, Colorado neighborhood within the Seventies. It featured Derrickson’s uncanny skill to craft scenes full of menace, in addition to genuinely harrowing work from Ethan Hawke because the youngster killer often known as the Grabber and Mason Thames as his newest sufferer.
Though ‘The Black Cellphone’ was a self-contained story, Derrickson and Cargill have discovered a option to lengthen the narrative with ‘Black Cellphone 2,’ which additionally brings again Hawke, Thames and Madeleine McGraw because the sister of Thames’ character. Leaning extra closely into the supernatural, and sporting influences just like the ‘Nightmare on Elm Avenue’ movies and ‘The Shining’ extra outwardly, the slow-burning ‘Black Cellphone 2’ strains at instances to power its narrative ahead however nonetheless delivers an often-frightening and gorier new chapter of the story.
Story and Course
(L to R) Ethan Hawke and director Scott Derrickson on the set of ‘Black Cellphone 2’. Picture: Common Footage.
It’s 4 years since Finney ‘Finn’ Blake (Thames) was held captive by the Grabber (Hawke), lastly killing him and escaping with the assistance of calls from the assassin’s earlier, useless victims on a disconnected rotary cellphone within the Grabber’s basement lair. Nonetheless stricken by trauma from his encounter, Finn at first doesn’t need to hear that his youthful sister Gwen (McGraw) is having psychic goals – similar to their mom, who ended her personal life – wherein she sees three useless, mutilated boys at a Christian youth camp known as Alpine Lake.
After studying from their father (Jeremy Davies, extra dazed this time round) that their mom labored on the camp years in the past, Gwen insists that she and Finn – together with their pal Ernesto (Miguel Mora, coming back from the primary movie however this time as his doomed character’s brother) — head up there to seek out out what occurred to the boys earlier than the goals drive her mad. Snowed in with the camp’s supervisor (Bichir), his niece (Rivas) and a pair of directors, the group are besieged not simply by Gwen’s ever extra vivid goals however bodily manifestations as properly – and rising indicators that the Grabber himself is reaching out from past the grave to take revenge on Finn and Gwen.
The lonely, windswept, snowbound camp, its buildings’ large image home windows searching on absolute darkness at night time, is a extremely efficient setting for ‘Black Cellphone 2.’ Derrickson wrings probably the most environment out of that, however saves his most unnerving moments for Gwen’s goals, that are filmed in Tremendous 8 (one other Derrickson trademark that goes again to ‘Sinister’). The grainy, light look provides a layer of unreality to the goals that’s onerous to shake, particularly because the film’s spirits start to seem. As within the first movie, the director additionally is aware of learn how to get most terror out of a ringing cellphone and a static-filled line – two issues which might be usually extra unsettling than most of us need to admit.
(L to R) Director Scott Derrickson and Madeleine McGraw on the set of ‘Black Cellphone 2’. © 2025 Common Studios. All Rights Reserved.
A few of the characters – like Finn, Gwen, and Bichir’s Armando, are well-drawn and given extra depth, whereas others, just like the Blakes’ now-sober however dazed dad, get the quick finish of the stick. Maybe extra controversially, Derrickson and Cargill’s script offers the Grabber with extra of an origin story this time, whereas additionally explicitly making him right into a supernatural being. The story additionally labors to tie the Blakes and the Grabber collectively in a extra unified manner. Whether or not that makes the universe of the movie smaller and fewer mysterious is a matter of debate, however it makes the script extra contrived this time round.
The movie additionally bends the grounded vibe of its predecessor to permit for occasions in goals to have an effect on the bodily world, which brings this narrative nearer to that of ‘A Nightmare on Elm Avenue’ and its well-loved ‘Dream Warriors’ threequel. It’s not a completely profitable gambit, however it doesn’t detract from the still-heartfelt and genuinely terrifying story at hand.
Solid and Performances
(L to R) Finn (Mason Thames), Ernesto (Miguel Mora) and Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) in ‘Black Cellphone 2’, directed by Scott Derrickson. © 2025 Common Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Though he arguably has much less display time right here, Ethan Hawke remains to be skin-freezing because the Grabber, bringing an depth to the function that makes him one of many extra placing horror creations of the previous decade.
However the film belongs to Mason Thames and particularly Madeleine McGraw, each older and wiser – and a masterstroke for Derrickson to get them each again. Finn and Gwen are affected by PTSD in their very own manner, and each actors supply up a uncooked portrait of two children deeply affected by trauma. In the long run, it’s McGraw’s emotional, advanced efficiency that stands out probably the most, marking her as an actor to observe.
The supporting forged is succesful in all respects, however Demián Bichir additionally deserves point out: his customary heat, earthiness, and humanity deliver depth and empathy into a personality that would have simply been one-dimensional.
Remaining Ideas
(L to R) The Grabber (Ethan Hawke) and Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) in ‘Black Cellphone 2’, directed by Scott Derrickson. Picture: Common Footage.
‘Black Cellphone 2’ doesn’t simply recycle the primary movie, like many horror sequels, and whereas not each new route it takes works, the movie remains to be a principally gripping and unsettling affair. Scott Derrickson stays a grasp of sustaining a temper of dread all through, and will get probably the most out of these actually eerie dream sequences.
If the story twists itself to get to the place the filmmakers need it to go, and the logic of the film wobbles every now and then, it makes up for these flaws with some actually nice performances, the director’s use of area, shadow, and texture, and the ominous netherworld wherein it’s set. If the ‘Elm Avenue’ motion pictures had stored enjoying it straight, they could have ended up right here.
‘Black Cellphone 2’ receives a rating of 80 out of 100.
(from left) Finn (Mason Thames) and The Grabber (Ethan Hawke) in ‘Black Cellphone 2’, directed by Scott Derrickson. © 2025 Common Studios. All Rights Reserved.
What’s the plot of ‘Black Cellphone 2’?
In 1982, 4 years after the occasions of ‘The Black Cellphone,’ Finney Blake is attempting to cope with the trauma of his expertise with the now-dead Grabber. In the meantime, his sister Gwen begins having terrifying visions of mutilated kids and nightmares that embrace a ringing cellphone.
Who’s within the forged of ‘Black Cellphone 2’?
- Mason Thames as Finney Blake
- Madeleine McGraw as Gwen Blake
- Ethan Hawke because the Grabber
- Demián Bichir as Armando
- Miguel Mora as Ernesto Arellano
- Jeremy Davies as Terrence Blake
- Arianna Rivas as Mustang
- Anna Lore as Hope
- Graham Abbey as Kenneth
- Maev Beaty as Barbara
The Grabber (Ethan Hawke) in ‘Black Cellphone 2’, directed by Scott Derrickson. Picture: Common Footage.