It’s only been four years since The Black Phone came out, but Ethan Hawke’s the Grabber is back in this exciting new horror movie release, and he's up to his old magic tricks again. Arriving at Cineworld on 17th October, Black Phone 2 will see the return of a number of characters as the nightmarish story continues.
Need to refresh your mind on the events of the first film? We’re breaking down The Black Phone’s key characters and plot points ahead of Black Phone 2’s release.
Who are the key characters in The Black Phone?
Ethan Hawke plays the Grabber, a serial killer who has been abducting children under the guise of being a magician.
How to Train Your Dragon’s Mason Thames plays Finney, who, during The Black Phone, becomes the Grabber’s latest victim.
Madeline McGraw stars as Gwen, Finney’s younger sister, who has developed her deceased mother’s psychic abilities, and is able to help the police investigation in finding the Grabber’s lair.
Terrance Shaw, Finney and Gwen’s father, is played by Jeremy Davies. He is an abusive, alcoholic father, and is resentful of Gwen and her abilities, which remind him of his late wife.
Other key characters in The Black Phone are the ghosts of the Grabber’s previous victims, including Bruce, Billy, Vance, and Griffin, all of whom speak to Finney through the rotary black phone in the Grabber’s basement where he keeps Finney.
What happens in The Black Phone?
It’s the late 70s and a small town in North Denver is being terrorised by a serial child killer called “the Grabber”, with a number of young boys having gone missing.
We meet Finney and Gwen, siblings who have lost their mother and now live with their troubled father, Terrence. Gwen has developed the same psychic abilities as her mother and begins to have dreams about the boys going missing, with the police taking an interest in these visions. A reminder of his deceased wife, Terrence is furious with Gwen for talking about her “unreal” dreams.
Finney’s friend Robin goes missing, leaving Finney next on the Grabber’s list. He is lulled in by the Grabber’s facade as a magician, kidnapping Finney and locking him away in the basement of his brother Max’s house.
When Finney wakes in the basement, he takes in his surroundings, consisting of a toilet, a mattress on the floor, and a disconnected black rotary telephone.
The Grabber arrives, wearing his now recognisable demonic mask and mocks Finney for seeing the phone as an escape route, relishing in telling him it does not work.
Later, though, the phone rings and Finney answers it, speaking to Bruce, a victim Gwen had visions about. He tells Finney about a loose tile in the floor where Finney could then dig an escape tunnel.
Other calls come through from other victims – Billy, Griffin, and Vance – all giving tips on things they discovered during their time in the basement that could help Finney to get free.
From hidden wires to open the window grates to the lock combination for the front door, each attempt ends in failure.
Meanwhile, Gwen continues to have dreams before she finally gets a clear look at what the Grabber’s house looks like. She shares this with the police.
The owner of said house is the aforementioned Max, a man who has been swept up in the case of the missing boys, too, and finally realises his own brother is the Grabber. However, by the time he rushes down to the basement to help free Finney, the Grabber kills him.
The final cool through the Black Phone comes from the Grabber’s last victim – his best friend, Robin. Having been a fierce protector of Finney, Robin tells Finney to instead fight back rather than escape and stand up for himself. Finney then proceeds to make a weapon out of the black phone.
Tiring of the game of cat-and-mouse, the Grabber returns to the basement, intent on finally killing Finney.
Bringing together his failed escape attempts, Finney trips the Grabber up so that he falls into the hole he’d begun to dig under the loose tile, breaking his ankle on the fallen window grate, before beating him with the phone now weighed down by dirt. Ultimately, though, he kills the Grabbed by strangling him with the phone’s cord.
The police turn up at the wrong house on the other side of the road where the Grabber’s victims are buried. At the same time, Finney walks out of Max’s house and reunites with his sister and their father, who pledges to get his act together and be a better father to them.
Finney goes back to school and has become a far more confident and strong person.
Where does Black Phone 2 pick-up from?
Black Phone 2 is set four years after the events of first film, and Finney is still haunted by his abduction and the part he played in the killing of the Grabber. But when Gwen begins having gruesome visions of children and a ringing black phone, it may just be that the Grabber can out trick death itself.
Arriving at Cineworld on 17th October, book your tickets and watch Black Phone 2. Head to a screening in its opening weekend and you could be eligible to receive a movie poster!
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