Finney (Mason Thames) and the Grabber (Ethan Hawke)
Blumhouse Productions/Universal Pictures
Ethan Hawke‘s masked murderer, The Grabber, returns in the sequel to The Black Phone, and this time, he’s been imbued with supernatural powers.
The first film saw Finney (Mason Thames) imprisoned in a basement by the Grabber, who is inspired by child abduction paranoias and murder cases from the 70’s.
Finney managed to overcome and kill the Grabber, helped by ghostly voices of the murderer’s victims speaking to him from the titular black phone.
Four years later, Finney is haunted by the terrible memories of his experience, and his sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) is experiencing strange dreams and visions.
What Happens In ‘The Black Phone 2’?
Finney is trying to smother his anxiety and trauma from his abduction by smoking weed, leading to him ignoring the troubling dreams of Gwen.
The siblings both share the gift of premonition and the ability to speak to the dead, but view their power as a curse.
Despite triumphing over the masked killer, the household remains broken, with the shadow of their mother’s suicide still hanging heavy in the air.
Gwen suffers from recurring nightmares of a Christian camp known as Alpine Lake, and sees terrible visions of mutilated children trapped below a frozen lake.
Her mother, Hope (Anna Lore), suffered from the same disturbing dreams many years earlier, and her father (Jeremy Davies) seems to believe that they drove her to madness and suicide.
After speaking to her dead mother in a dream, Gwen reckons that there’s a truth to the phenomenon, and convinces Finney and her new boyfriend Ernesto (Miguel Mora) to travel to Alpine Lake Camp, where Hope worked several years ago.
As soon as they arrive, a fierce blizzard traps them there with a handful of camp employees. Of course, an old, disused phone booth stands outside the camp, and almost immediately, Finney hears it ring.
Finney picks up and hears the familiar voice of the Grabber. While the Grabber was just a serial killer in the first film, in The Black Phone 2, he’s a demonic entity, a vengeful spirit, released from Hell to get his revenge.
The Grabber explains that Hell has taken whatever trace of humanity was left in him—all that’s left is his sins.
Gwen continues to be plagued by her disturbing dreams, but the murdered children are trying to help her, offering clues about what happened at the camp decades ago.
The Grabber then appears in her dreams, and like Freddy Krueger, he has the ability to wound her and even commit murder in the dream realm.
Unlike Freddy, he doesn’t seem to have much control over the dream realm, but he does have uncanny, almost cartoonish abilities to hack and slash—at one point, he spins her around like a spinning top, causing her sleeping body to spin in the air.
The phone booth proves the key to waking Gwen up—in The Black Phone universe, phone lines offer a direct line to the spirit and dream realms, which may in fact be the same thing.
After making a scene and clashing with the workers of the camp, Gwen and Finney learn that the Grabber used to work at Alpine Lake camp with their mother, and that he was known as “Wild Bill Hickok.”
The three children he murdered and hid below the ice seem to tether him to reality, with the children’s fearful spirits empowering him to commit more violent acts.
In another dream, Gwen learns that her mother had exactly the same abilities as her, and used them to try and stop the murders, but the Grabber killed her, hanging her body from the ceiling to look like a suicide.
The Ending Of ‘The Black Phone 2,’ Explained
Gwen’s dreams become a battle for survival between her and the Grabber, with Finney, Ernesto and the camp councilors coming to her aid, fighting the invisible Grabber in the real world while she works in the dream realm.
While the Grabber works alone, the living and dead team up together, with Gwen uncovering the bodies of the murdered children below the ice, all of whom burst to the surface and grab the Grabber.
This allows Finney to violently overcome the Grabber, smashing his face against the ice and shattering his iconic mask. Interestingly, this seems to disturb the Grabber more than any of his injuries.
Once the Grabber’s mask is knocked off, it’s clear how his mutilated face has come to resemble the mask, his lips torn away to reveal grinning, skull-like teeth.
Finney seizes the axe and defeats the Grabber with a sharp blow to the head, the killer sinking below the lake, with his murder victims pulling him down below the icy depths.
With the mystery of the murders solved and the bodies recovered, the Grabber’s power over the camp seems to have dissolved.
Finally, the phone booth rings and Gwen picks up, speaking to her mother beyond the grave. Hope gives her daughter the closure she desperately needed, allowing her to embrace her abilities as a gift, rather than a curse.
Despite portraying the Christian camp counselors as close-minded and somewhat ignorant, the film ends with the implication that Christianity is absolutely true, as Heaven and Hell are both framed as real, with the dream realm a flowing veil, touching all realities.
Gwen affirms her love for Ernesto, and Finney has got his confidence back after defeating the ghost of the Grabber. The family drive off in the sunlight, leaving the grisly murders behind them.
Somewhat surprisingly for a horror film, there is no hint of foreboding, or any lingering shot of the Grabber’s eyes flicking open under the water.
There is no post-credits scene, just an earnestly happy ending.
Is There Going To Be A ‘Black Phone 3’?
Possibly, but nothing is confirmed—The Black Phone 2 does not tease a sequel, and leaves the happy ending intact.
In an interview with Variety, Black Phone director Scott Derrickson was asked about a potential third movie. Derrickson seemed hesitant.
“My attitude toward a sequel is that there’s really no justification for making a sequel unless you are genuinely attempting to make a movie that’s better than the first movie,” he said.
“If you’re going to make a third one, it needs to be better than the second one, which is better than the first one. Very few films do that.”
However, the door is certainly open, considering that the Grabber already came back from Hell.
The Grabber could follow the footsteps of countless other horror icons, and repeatedly return from the dead, boasting new powers each time.
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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2025/10/23/the-ending-of-the-black-phone-2-explained/
