The following article contains spoilers for The Black Phone.
It has been a few weeks since horror fans got their first look atBlack Phone 2, the sequel to the 2021horrorfilm byScott Derricksonbased on the short story by Joe Hill. While the trailer for the first film was a standard and revelatory preview of the film itself, the one for the sequel plays a little differently. It offers plenty of unsettling glimpses without spoiling the plot, serving as a nightmarish preview of what’s to come. It also teases a new direction for the Grabber, the sadistic villain who’s now in the afterlife. After rewatching the trailer over and over, and subjecting myself to the haunting voice of Alice in Chains' Layne Staley, it seems The Grabber and the movie itself feel like a modern rendition of the classic horror franchiseA Nightmare on Elm Streetand its villain, Freddy Krueger.
Derrickson, who will return as director, now faces a challenge: How will he deliver a sequel even more compelling than the original? We won’t spoil much, but there is a winter camp, and Finn’s sister, Gwen, is under attack by the Grabber. “Dead is just a word,” the masked killer says when Finn tries to convince himself that he’s just having a nightmare, and he’s not seeing the man he killed in the first movie. There’s not much more to tell from the trailer, but the tidbits show that the movie may be heavily influenced bythe franchise created by Wes Craven in 1984. Here’s why.
Is the Grabber the Freddy Krueger of a New Generation?
“Ain’t found a way to kill me yet,” Staley sings when a phone rings endlessly and Finn tries to find the booth where the hellish sound is coming from. The first words in the trailer come from Gwen, who says, “I had a bad dream.“Whether this is a reference toNightmare on Elm Streetor not is unclear, but it seems like too much of a coincidence, considering what comes after.
Gwen also appears to be trapped in the same basement from the first movie, where the phone rang constantly and Finn communicated with the ghosts of the children the Grabber had killed. A menacing figure comes down the stairs, meaning that Gwen is in a place where the Grabber also exists. Having powers in the realm of the dreams is similar to how Freddy Krueger operated in the deadly nightmares. Additionally, the trailer shows Gwen being attacked in her dreams, and her body facing an invisible force in reality.She’s violently attacked in the same fashion that Freddy’s first victim, Tina, was killed.
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Add the Grabber’s eerie mask, the sinister makeup underneath, and his chilling final message: “Vengeance is mine.“Remember why Freddy started attacking teens? The answer may give you a hint as to why I find myself unable to stop thinking about these similarities.As sacrilegious as it may be for some horror fans, the Grabber could be the Freddy Krueger of the modern generation.
The Grabber Is Horror’s Newest Nightmare Fuel
Once again, Hollywood star Ethan Hawke will reprise his role as the villain, who should already be considered one of the decade’s best in horror. Despite his lengthy monologues in the first movie, the Grabber remained a mystery when it came to the true motives behind his acts. We understand why he did what he did, but we still don’t comprehend the underlying reason behind such vicious acts. And maybe some mysteries are best left that way.
And a last note regardingthe trailer forBlack Phone 2. The similarities with Freddy Krueger and theElm Streetuniverse are crystal clear, but so is the tone of the footage used for the trailer. If you’re a horror fan, you may recognize images that closely resemble the 8mm footage featured in Derrickson’sSinister, which was awarded the title ofscariest movie ever made. Yeah,Black Phone 2is shaping up to be something terrifying. And nostalgic.Black Phone 2is set to release in theaters on Aug 22, 2025.
The Black Phone
