If you like to make inside jokes with family and bond with friends, one way to do that is to bond over scary movies. 

Black Phone 2 is that type of movie. If you are looking for a psychological thriller that isn’t too scary but develops complex thoughts, the R-rated Black Phone 2 is the movie for you.

Compared to the first Black Phone, the second installment takes place in a more isolated setting instead of a suburban city. The main focus shifts from Finney Blake, the boy who escaped a serial killer in the first movie, to his sister, Gwendolyn Blake (Gwen).

In the first movie, Finney Blake was one of many kids kidnapped by a serial killer known as The Grabber. Finney managed to escape by talking through a black telephone to the ghost of past kids who were killed by The Grabber. His sister, Gwen, also helped him escape by having dreams that led the authorities to where The Grabber had been keeping Finney.

At the start of the second movie it shows many parallels between the last movie. Finney is shown to have characteristics of a few kids who were kidnapped from the last movie. The movie zoomed more in Gwen’s perspective instead of Finney’s. It goes more in depth about her dreams and less of Finney talking to the ghosts, mostly because he tries to escape his past and ignore the calls. However, as Gwen’s dreams begin to take more of a toll on her as days pass by she is compelled to go to a youth camp up in the mountains. It is up in these mountains where Gwen and Finney ultimately have to face The Grabber one last time. 

The actors did a very good job of displaying their struggles. While watching, all the elements of the movie, including the actors, made me feel for them both emotionally and physically.

Ultimately the movie was really good; I would rate it a 4/5 stars because I wanted it to be more scary. Many of the scenes kept me intrigued and it had a very good plot that connected well to the first Black Phone while ending with a good cliffhanger for a potential Black Phone 3 in the future.

Overall the movie was produced very well, bringing in a good amount of the last movie while keeping the audience engaged by including new details and concepts.