Smash hit supernatural thriller from 2021 is getting ‘bloodier, darker, more intense’ sequel

The director of Black Phone 2 gave JOE the inside scoop on the sequel. Its trailer is available to watch now.

And ahead of the teaser's release, JOE spoke to the movie's co-writer and director Scott Derrickson (who has also made Doctor Strange, The Gorge and Sinister) to get the inside scoop on the follow-up.

Also directed by Derrickson, the original Black Phone was based on a short story by Joe Hill (Horns). The 2021 film followed a 13-year-old boy named Finney (Mason Thames) living in the suburbs of North Denver, Colorado, in the '70s, who is abducted and held prisoner by a serial killer known as The Grabber (Ethan Hawke).

Somehow, Finney finds himself able to communicate with the ghosts of The Grabber's past victims via a mysterious disconnected black phone hanging on the basement wall where he is trapped. With the help of these spirits, the young teen plots an escape.

Black Phone 2's story sticks with Finney, now aged 17, as The Grabber seeks vengeance on him from beyond the grave. The killer's method of doing this: menacing Finney’s younger sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw).

Gwen begins receiving calls in her dreams from the black phone and seeing disturbing visions of three boys being stalked at a winter camp known as Alpine Lake.

"Determined to solve the mystery and end the torment for both her and her brother, Gwen persuades Finney to visit the camp during a winter storm," the plot synopsis adds.

"There, she uncovers a shattering intersection between The Grabber and her own family’s history. Together, she and Finney must confront a killer who has grown more powerful in death and more significant to them than either could imagine."

Derrickson has helped create and been a part of so many great franchises (the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sinister, Hellraiser, Urban Legend). Yet, Black Phone 2 is notable for the filmmaker as it's the first sequel he has helmed to a movie he directed.

Speaking to JOE, Derrickson explained that there were several reasons why he was eager to make the follow-up. These include continuing the story of Finney and Gwen, Derrickson's desire to make a high school horror movie, and the plot allowing the filmmaker to draw on his own past experiences.

When asked if it was rewarding to stay with the character of Finney and explore how the events of the first film have shaped him, Derrickson responded: "Yeah, it was for Finney and Gwen both and their relationship.

"I thought that they both were incredible actors and really delivered wonderful performances. Part of the reason that I agreed to do the movie was that I wanted to do another film first [Apple TV's sci-fi hit The Gorge] and let the kids get a little bit older.

"They're in high school. Mason [Thames], when we shot this, was 17, and Madeline McGraw was 15. I loved the idea of making a high school coming-of-age horror film in the same way that the first movie was a middle school coming-of-age horror film."

He also added:

"The sequel, because it's a high school movie, has more graphic violence, more blood and more intensity and more darkness than the first movie. That just seemed more befitting because the kids are a little older.

"A high school horror movie is a different genre altogether than a middle school horror film."

Derrickson has openly discussed in the past how his own childhood inspired the original Black Phone. He also confirmed to JOE that he again drew on his past for the sequel.

The director explained: "I think the biggest inspiration from my own life and experience for Black Phone 2 comes from really the setting and the environment.

"I grew up in North Denver, and I would frequently, during the winters, go to these winter camps in the Rocky Mountains. These Christian winter camps had a big impact on me, not just because of what went on at camp, but also the environment.

"The snowbound Rockies are a really formidable place when you're surrounded by the mountains and you've got several feet of snow on the ground and the weather drops well below zero degrees Fahrenheit every night.

"I loved that time that I spent as a teenager in the Rocky Mountains at those camps, and I wanted to re-create that environment and the feel of that kind of place for this movie. So, in that respect, it's really drawing heavily on my own high school experiences."

Derrickson also said that he believes that this setting is perfect for a horror movie, stating: "My favourite director is Akira Kurosawa and one of the things that I really learned from him as a director is to use weather as a character if possible.

"He did it all the time - wind and snow and rain and heat.

"I love the idea of being able to make a Rocky Mountain blizzardy, snowy, windy, cold horror film with these characters that I was so fond of. That's a big part of what the movie is, and it was a big part of my motivation for making it."

JOE also asked Derrickson if he had many conversations with Ethan Hawke about how to portray The Grabber now that he has transformed into a supernatural force.

However, the director stated that this wasn't necessary. "Ethan doesn't really require that. He's such an astonishingly good actor," he answered.

That said, Derrickson did note that Hawke was apprehensive about the follow-up before reading the screenplay.

The director recounted: "He told me he was nervous... He was nervous because he had never committed to a sequel before, and I said: 'What about the Before Sunrise movies. You made three of those.'

"And he said: 'Well, I wrote those. That doesn't count.'

"But then he read the script and he called me back and he was so excited. He thought the script was terrific and really understood that there was a reason to make the sequel.

"He loved the evolution of the characters, including the character of The Grabber."

Mason Thames and Ethan Hawke in Black Phone 2

Derrickson also told JOE that he believes the trailer for Black Phone 2 does an excellent job of capturing the tone of the sequel.

He said: "One of the things that's important to me for movie trailers of my films is that they accurately represent what the movie is and what the movie feels like.

"This trailer certainly is that. It's all more severe and escalated in tone compared to the first film."

That said, he notes to JOE that there is plenty in the completed movie that the trailer does not give away.

In previous interviews, Derrickson had noted that an idea from Joe Hill, the writer of The Black Phone short story, for the sequel also played a part in Derrickson deciding it was worth committing to a follow-up.

When we asked the director if this idea was The Grabber targeting Finney from beyond the grave, he said it was something else entirely.

He explained: "It was something else that's not given away in the trailer. [Hill] had pitched a whole take for a sequel. Some of that I didn't respond to, but there was one idea within his idea that I thought was wonderful, that I had never thought of, and that became really the genesis for me considering doing a sequel.

"It was that idea plus the revelation that: 'Oh, I could go make another film first, and these kids would be in high school and I can make a high school horror film, as opposed to a middle school horror film like the first one.'

"Those were all motivations for me to do a sequel."

Black Phone 2 is out in cinemas on 17 October 2025.