2021’s The Black Phone hinted at a touch of mysticism in our horror villain, The Grabber, but with director Scott Derrickson’s sequel, the script truly explores the fantasy horror elements to good effect, even if the outcome isn’t quite as satisfying.

In 1982, four years after Finney Blake (Mason Thomas) killed The Grabber (Ethan Hawke), Gwen Blake (Madeleine McGraw), his sister, continues to have vivid, recurring dreams about the murders of three young boys at Alpine Lake Camp in 1957. In one of these dreams, she receives a phone call from her deceased mother, Hope, while she was at the camp. Determined to uncover the truth behind these dreams, Finney, Gwen, and Gwen’s love interest, Ernesto (Miguel Mora), travel to Alpine Lake Camp as camp counsellors, where they meet the supervisor, Armando (Demián Bichir). During the fierce snowstorm, The Grabber appears to the teens, revealing that even after his death, he still refuses to leave them in peace.

The idea of flipping a traditional horror film to be more of a Freddy Krueger-style supernatural story is a good concept, but the pacing of the script prevents the film from reaching the classic horror levels it aims for. The film moves at such a slow pace, even during the frightening set-pieces it creates. There are about half a dozen dream sequences, which become increasingly repetitive after the first few and become quite frustrating by the end. A more polished script could have elevated this as a worthy successor to the solid original film.

The cinematography is excellent; however, using a Super 8 style in all the dream sequences gives them an otherworldly feel and creates a nice juxtaposition between dream and reality. The snowy setting is compelling, and it convincingly looks freezing on that lake of ice. The setting complements The Grabber’s icy demon mask well, striking fear into the teenagers.

Hawke is used too sparingly. He has about 10-15 minutes of screen time, which makes his character more mysterious than in the original, but now the plot depends almost entirely on these teenagers, who lack the calibre to support a film like this. It’s good to see Bichir, but he isn’t given much to do with his camp supervisor role. Thomas is the most skilled actor among the teenagers, but he struggles to express the trauma and angst that the role requires.

Overall, it’s a decent fantasy horror flick and a good sequel to the original, but the new ideas needed refining in the script, even if the direction is better than the first film. More Hawke and less teenage angst would’ve made this a worthy successor.