Although The Black Phone 2 isn’t directly adapted from a story by Joe Hill, the acclaimed horror writer and son of Stephen King played a crucial role in bringing the sequel to life.
Director Scott Derrickson and screenwriter Robert Cargill admitted in an interview with Bloody Disgusting that they initially had no plans to create a follow-up to the 2021 hit The Black Phone. That changed after a short but powerful phone call from Hill, who gave them the perfect idea for a sequel.
He just said, ‘A phone rings, Finney answers, and it’s The Grabber calling from hell. Cargill recalled.
That single line became the foundation for The Black Phone 2, which continues the story of Finney (Mason Thames) and The Grabber (Ethan Hawke) from the first film. In the original, Finney was kidnapped by the sadistic serial killer and used a mysterious black phone to communicate with the spirits of The Grabber’s past victims to survive.
Derrickson explained that his first creative challenge was deciding where to set the sequel.
The first starting point for me was, where are we going to set this? I was proud of how the first movie really recreated my experience in North Denver in this working-class neighborhood in 1978.
he said.
That nostalgia ultimately inspired a chilling new backdrop.
Then, the idea of making it a camp movie, putting it in camp, but not summer camp, winter camp, which I went to as a teenager. And the cold violence of that kind of environment, the Rocky Mountains in winter at night, where it gets down to 60, 70-below, the wind chill factor, and the memories I have of that camp experience, that became very interesting to me because I felt like I hadn’t seen that. We’ve seen lots of summer camp horror. 1982 set winter camp? Interesting.
Derrickson continued
Following Hill’s haunting idea, Derrickson shaped the sequel around a winter camp setting, bringing a fresh and atmospheric twist to the horror genre.
The Black Phone 2 is set to release in theaters on October 17, continuing the terrifying legacy that began with the 2021 original.
Source: Bloody Disgusting
