The Black Phone 2 Finally Fixed the First Film's 2023 Stealth Sequel

Now that The Black Phone 2 has been in theaters for a few weeks, it feels like the right time to do a spoiler-heavy deep dive into the film. Or rather, one very specific moment in the film that not only changes everything we know about the overarching narrative so far, but also dramatically alters what we already know is bound to happen thanks to the sleeper sequel that The Black Phone received back in 2023.

With all of that out of the way, let's explore what new developments are made in The Black Phone 2, how they fix the sequel most fans didn't even know existed, and what they could mean for the future of the franchise.

Explaining The Black Phone 2

The Black Phone 2 picks up with Finney (Mason Thames) and his younger sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) just four years after the former not only became sole survivor of the infamous child killer known as the Grabber (Ethan Hawke), but brought his reign of terror to an end. At least, that is what Finney thought he accomplished when he struck the Grabber with a lethal blow. Of course, things are rarely that simple in the realm of horror, and long-buried secrets and supernatural forces ensure that the Grabber continues to terrorize Finney and Gwen from beyond the grave.

As it is revealed over the course of Finney and Gwen's search for answers, their mother, Hope (Anna Lore), worked at the same camp where the Grabber carried out his initial killing spree. Though she wasn't swept up in those events, her own visions drove her to investigate the Grabber's actions and, in turn, cost Hope her life. This marks a major departure from what Gwen, Finney, and audiences were previously led to believe, as the Grabber merely staged Hope's death to seem like a suicide. Apart from offering the young heroes at the heart of The Black Phone 2 some much-needed emotional relief, this carries some serious implications for both Gwen and the Grabber's respective futures, and it all goes back to V/H/S/85.

Explaining V/H/S/85 - And How The Black Phone 2 Fixes Its Best Segment

The sixth installment in the ongoing V/H/S horror anthology film series, V/H/S/85 arrived in theaters in 2023 with a whole new slate of terrifying shorts tailor-made to chill audiences to the bone. Among the new shorts on offer in V/H/S/85 was "Dreamkill" which, like both The Black Phone feature films, was directed by Scott Derrickson, who co-wrote the screenplay alongside longtime collaborate C. Robert Cargill.

"Dreamkill" revolves around a series of snuff films, all of which make their way to the police seemingly before the crimes they contain are carried out. The tapes themselves are the product of Gunther (Dashiell Derrickson), son of detective Bobby Blake (James Ransone), who is working the case at hand. While there is a whole big twist there that plays into the short's gruesome ending, that isn't the part of "Dreamkill" that we care about right now. What we care about is what Bobby says about his family's history of psychic visions while in police interrogation.

According to Bobby, there are plenty of people in his family who have had prophetic dreams and similar supernatural experiences. In fact, Bobby tells his partner that his sister was driven to take her own life by such dreams, and that "Gunther's cousin Gwen has it too," explicitly referring to Madeleine McGraw's character from The Black Phone and its sequel. Now that we know Hope didn't actually commit suicide, we know that the dark implications that her family history as expanded upon in "Dreamkill" doesn't carry the same dark implications for Gwen as audiences may have thought. At the same time, the fact that both "Dreamkill" and The Black Phone exist in the same universe alone is enough to set up a third film, or at least another chapter to Gwen's story.

How This Could All Lead Into The Black Phone 3

With the worry that Gwen will fall into a suicidal stupor following her experiences with the Grabber now effectively non-existent, there is no reason to think her visions won't begin to reveal entirely new threats, assuming they continue in the first place. If that should prove to be the case, Gwen's visions could quickly lead the way to the kind of monsters seen in "Dreamkill," if not something else entirely. Considering the entire The Black Phone world has been based on Joe Hill's original short story of the same name, there is always the chance that Gwen and Finney could cross paths with the likes of a young Vic McQueen from Hill's NOS4A2.

Then again, there is always the chance that The Black Phone 2 simply marks the end of Gwen and Finney's story, which would also be fine. All things considered, calling it quits after the second film would likely be for the best, as the Grabber's hold on the world has been eradicated, while Finney and Gwen are more than a little overdue for a chance to genuinely rest easy knowing there aren't any supernaturally empowered serial killers waiting to catch them unaware.