If that feels like loads of plot for a slasher film, nicely, it’s. And in its weakest moments, Black Cellphone 2 does stumble to trudge via its narrative mechanics, particularly because it spells out the lore connecting the Grabber to to Gwen and Finn’s mom.
Director Scott Derrickson, returning to the franchise alongside co-writer and frequent collaborator C. Robert Cargill, desires to make a bigger level about heaven and hell and the actions of individuals on Earth who do nothing to care for kids. This script lacks the magnificence of its predecessor, which might have one thing to do with it hewing extra carefully to the Joe Hill story that it tailored. Whereas some cellphone conversations do get repeated in numerous contexts all through the sequel, none of them have the impression of the primary movie’s climax.
Nonetheless, Derrickson and Cargill greater than make up for the dearth of magnificence with the movie’s extremely staged assault and kill sequences. All through the film, Gwen has visions of murders perpetuated by the Grabber, which Derrickson renders in grainy Tremendous-8 movie inventory. Though he pulled an identical trick in his 2012 breakout Sinister, Derrickson manages to make the impact really feel contemporary and eerily vibrant right here. He succeeds additionally partially due to McGraw’s unbelievable efficiency as Gwen, who has confirmed that her work within the earlier movie wasn’t only a foul-mouthed gimmick. Even past the soar scares and grisly imagery that accompanies the dream sequences, McGraw makes Gwen’s vulnerability really feel actual.
The dream sequences additionally succeed as a result of they name again to one of the vital beloved horror franchise, A Nightmare on Elm Avenue. Now dispatched to an icy Hell (actually), the Grabber operates not in contrast to Freddy Krueger, invading Gwen’s desires and wreaking havoc on her actual physique—havoc that appears to the surface observer as if she’s flailing and convulsing. The Freddy similarities give Hawke license to make the Grabber much more playful than he was within the earlier movie, which retains the killer feeling contemporary in his return look.
Derrickson additional helps Black Cellphone 2 stand out due to its setting. Anybody who frolicked in wintry Christian camps of a long time previous (eg, this author) acknowledges the verisimilitude led to by graffiti-riddled bunk beds and huge, yawning chilled cabins. The sound design takes full benefit of the snowy locale, making each crunch and howl of wind really feel like a harbinger of doom, particularly when supplemented by the movie’s atonal rating by Atticus Derrickson.
To its credit score, the movie ties its Christian camp setting into the film’s theme, given a well-worn trope about dad and mom ignoring threats in opposition to kids an up to date really feel. We’re used to seeing grown-ups let kids die, it’s the kids who attempt to warn the city in The Blob, or Nancy Thompson being locked in her Elm Avenue home by her personal mom. However when Gwen curses those that conceal behind their religion when kids are in peril, Black Cellphone 2 skates proper out of its 1984 setting and into the current day.
