The Black Phone 2 (2025) movie review from zeenor (spoilers for ethan hawke)
now let me be honest... i have seen the first half of the first black phone movie....not the full thing so far... and im not the biggest fan. i think its a good movie just kind of a tough watch. horror movies with little kids is always a hard thing because i dont like seeing little kids get abused or yelled at or grabbed or anything like that. if a movie is good enough and knows what its doing, you can have those things in the movie and it works out. im not sure the Black Phone 1 is good enough to fully justify having those things in the movie. the writing in this movie is inconsistent at times. sometimes i love it, sometimes it makes me grit my teeth and cringe a little. i just think with some different editing and slightly different directing you could get a movie that is a thousand times more haunting and less jarring. thats the black phone 1 as i remember it (the parts ive seen, zeenor loves to start rumors)
now the Black Phone 2 throws a lot of that serious stuff out the window and gets down to the good stuff, classic supernatural slasher horror fun. freddy krueger type stuff! Aesthetically this might be my favorite horror movie from last year. I love the winter aesthetic, I love the cold blues and the vintage effects and grit they put on the footage when you are in a flashback or dream. This movie has an aesthetic like really nothing else out there, and is just a treat to watch. so beautiful, so fun, an amazing time. i mean how can you turn down a gimmick like your slasher villian ice skating around on a lake killing people??? you just cant! dont go into this movie expecting all the gripping horror and kidnapping terror of the first movie. expect that he is on ice skates and he is skating around. and hes kind of funny and bitter.
i watched this movie before i had seen the first one and didnt understand why people didnt like it. but i kind of get it. the first one deals with the very real and horrifying idea of children being kidnapped and murdered, and also implied sexual assault. the creators have come out to say that he is a pedophile, which then makes everything about the sequel and everything else they do with this character so fucked up. having a sequel where he tries to put the protagonist in a pizza oven and skate around in little ice skates feels kind of deeply offensive when this guy is a god damn creep. as if killing children wasnt enough, hes a pervert too! what! also putting him in fortnite??? what??? This is just so odd. Do I recommend this sequel?? maybe a little, but god damn it its a horrible recommendation.
the black phone 2 gets a 5/10 and zeenor love










