Ethan Hawke is set to terrify audiences anew as he officially reprises his role as the menacing Grabber in ‘The Black Phone 2,’ the sequel to the 2022 horror hit.
The original ‘Black Phone,’ directed by Scott Derrickson, introduced Hawke as the child abductor known as the Grabber and followed Mason Thames as Finn, the abducted boy fighting to survive with the help of mysterious calls from the dead.
The sequel picks up four years later, with Finn and his sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) still haunted by their past. Gwen begins to receive calls from a black phone in her dreams, along with visions of three boys being stalked at a winter camp.
Derrickson said the first film’s impact was deeply personal, which opened the possibility for the sequel.
‘It was extremely rewarding to see audiences embrace the film the way they did, specifically because so much of it came directly from my own childhood,’ he said in a statement sent to Inquirer Entertainment.
‘Seeing those personal feelings and memories connect with so many people, especially young people, added a sense of purpose to the darker memories of my childhood. It made me feel like it was all somehow meant to be,’ the director added.
The first film grossed more than $161 million worldwide on a budget of under $20 million. Its box-office success and viral popularity on TikTok helped cement its place as one of Blumhouse Productions’ strongest original releases.
‘The script for Black Phone 2 reminded me what an incredible foundation Joe Hill’s story gave us and how brilliantly Scott and Cargill have built on it. They’ve deepened the mythology while keeping the intimacy of the first film, balancing horror, emotion , and character in a way that feels real,’ said producer Jason Blum.
Co-writer C. Robert Cargill explained that they want to maintain the first film’s core themes, which are to continue exploring trauma and recuperation among families.
‘One of the core themes of The Black Phone was the idea of children carrying the sins of their fathers, and that continues here,’ he said. ‘In this film, Finn is coping in the same ways his father once did. We wanted to explore how trauma echoes through families and whether that cycle can be broken.’
Newcomers Demián Bichir and Arianna Rivas are joining Hawke, Thames, and McGraw in the cast.
‘The Black Phone 2’ opens in Philippine cinemas on Oct. 15.