Black Phone 2

BLACK PHONE 2 is that rarity, a sequel that's just as bloody good fun as the original. Even better, its been amped up with a snowbound Friday the 13th/Nightmare on Elm Street 70's/80's vibe that haunts.

The film assumes (as will I for this review) that you've seen the first film, which surprised me at four years ago with its original vibes and Ethan Hawke's lethal turn as a serial killer.

Finn (Mason Thames) is now 17 and suffering from all the PTSD of being held by Hawke's The Grabber. His sister Gwen (Madeline McGraw) is his constant ally, navigating all the terrors of high school when you have a very famous and blood drenched past. Gwen's psychic gifts are really firing up, reminding me of Wes Craven's "Elm Street" since Gwen starts dreaming every time she falls asleep. Like Freddy Krueger's victims, it's not easy to wake her up when she's having a vision.

If The Grabber wounds you in your dreams, those wound appear on your flesh in the real world. But unlike 1984 Freddy, those wounds are a LOT more lethal, gory and realistic. The Grabber's got secrets to protect and he'll do so at all costs.

Gwen's visions center on Alpine Lake, a snowy winter Christian Camp for kids. Gwen sees children under a huge lake of ice, carving letters on the bottom of the solid ice and silently drifting down out of site.

Director Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange) returns from the first film after initially declining it. He was convinced after talking to author of the original book, Joe Hill, to return and expand the original film's concept. Derrickson does just that, spinning a wild tale that has a lot of different visual styles I loved.

Gwen's dreams feel like they take place in a 70's 35mm film print, hissing and popping like a celluloid strip about to spill out of a projector. It gives the scenes a haunted feeling perfectly blended with the washed out colors of a 70's Grindhouse horror film. You know when you are in the dream world, and Derrickson and his returning screenwriter C. Robert Cargill (The Gorge) use that atmosphere in a lot of layers as the film unwinds.

Supporting characters contribute heavily, especially Demian Bichir (The Nun) as Mando, the head counselor of Alpine Lake with direct connections to its bloody past. Poor Bichir, between this and his role in Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" he's spent a lot of screen time in snowbound cabins!

Jeremy Davies (Lost, Twister, Saving Private Ryan) returns as Terrence, Finn and Gwen's recovering Dad. Davies is solid and his story arc is not the thing of B-movie slasher flicks.

Derrickson treats Hawke's Grabber in this film the way that Spielberg did the shark in "Jaws". You don't see much of him until the back half of the film, other than a quick peek here or there. Hawke is clearly having a blast in the role and as one of my favorite actors, I could have used more of him, but there's no doubt he's back at full power for the exciting finale.

The icy pay phone cubical at the camp serves up the most terror in a phone booth since Tippy Hedren suffered all those birds in Hitchcock's classic.

If you liked "Black Phone" get ready for a new chapter with its Supernatural meter cranked up to 11. It took me back to Craven's Freddy Krueger so much I had to come home and watch the original 1984 debut of Elm Street.

BLACK PHONE 2 doesn't have any desire for the cheap jokes and stupid teens of that Craven classic. It's too busy setting up Finn and Gwen as modern horror heroes against Hawke's twisted madman. There are laughs, but they're mostly in relief of some earth shaking, Exorcist-like possession scenes that had my eyes locked on the big screen.

Just like the original, this new chapter gets an appreciative B.