“Black Phone 2,” a risky bet

Whenever a sequel to a movie is made, two things can happen: either it's very good compared to the first one, or it's very bad. In the case of Black Phone 2, it's not necessarily either of those, because, from my point of view, it went from being a very good movie that left a great impression to one that doesn't seem to have much to do with the first one, beyond the characters. I mean that the first part did not seem to have supernatural elements, while the second is quite the opposite, as the main antagonist definitely has supernatural origins, as do other characters we see during the film, who have abilities that go beyond what we are used to seeing in this world.

Black Phone 2 is a film set in 2025, produced by Blumhouse Records and directed by Scott Derrickson. Among the main characters, we see Ethan Hawke, who plays the antagonist, and a cast of actors who are quite similar or who reprise their roles from the first film. The genre is obviously supernatural horror. The story takes place a few years after the events of the first film. We see the boy who managed to kill the kidnapper as a teenager, trying to lead a normal life. However, we can see that he has social difficulties at school, as well as family difficulties with both his father and his sister. Obviously, everything he went through in the first film caused trauma that he is coping with as best he can on a daily basis, but which undoubtedly had a very negative impact on his life.

However, in Black Phone 2, we see that the plot focuses more on her sister, who, little by little, we see has some supernatural powers, which are based on visions, and which cause her many nightmares at night. She sees signs that gradually lead her to understand that her mother is, or was, a fundamental part of everything related to the antagonist, and that she inherited these powers (so to speak) from her mother, which cause her to have visions and also enable her to see things that happened in the past, as well as supernatural elements.

So, little by little, it is revealed that the main antagonist went from being a malevolent human being to a supernatural entity who will seek revenge for what happened to him when he was alive. It's true that it's not as simple as I'm saying, but there was always something behind it that went back even further, to previous years, which gave rise to everything we see in the plot of Black Phone 1 and, of course, in part two. As for the resolution of the story, I invite you to watch the movie so that you can understand in greater detail what I have mentioned so far.

Now, this is a film that I was fortunate enough to see in the theater, and while it's true that, in my opinion, it's not better than the first one, it can be charming and quite entertaining. It's interesting to see that leap from the natural to the supernatural, which somehow transforms this film into something different. I would say it's a kind of mutation, trying to take advantage of elements from the first film, but at the same time taking it into a territory that I suppose the director wanted to be different this time around.

The performances are quite acceptable. I would say that it is not necessarily the film's strong point, but it was quite adequate in terms of what the plot required at each moment. From my point of view, the ending of this story was quite dignified. However, I had the feeling that there could be a third part, which for me is totally unnecessary, as I believe that the arguments available to develop the story were exploited to the full. In fact, this second part gives me the impression that it is very different from what we saw in the first one, but I suppose they wanted to take advantage of the positive impact of the first part to then shoot this second one, which, as I mentioned, is quite interesting and acceptable. If you like the horror genre, I invite you to watch it. You will probably be able to draw some good conclusions about it and have a good time. It was a pleasure to share my impressions of this film. See you next time.