Ethan Hawke is out for revenge, resurrected as the Grabber in “Black Phone 2”

In PH cinemas Oct 15

Villains who leave a mark rarely stay buried, and in Black Phone 2, Ethan Hawke reprises his role as The Grabber, seeking out revenge from beyond the grave. “I wouldn’t have done it if Ethan was not willing to return,” writer-producer-director Scott Derrickson says. “He agreed to it before there was a script, which showed a surprising amount of trust in me. I recognized the appeal of bringing back the Grabber as a ghost.”

Black Phone 2 tells the tale of siblings Finn (Mason Thames) and Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), as they struggle to reclaim their lives four years after the events of the previous film. Gwen starts receiving calls in her dreams from the black phone, and receives visions of three boys being stalked at a winter camp known as Alpine lake. The siblings relive their nightmare when they visit the camp as the Grabber, now more powerful in death, seeks out vengeance.

True evil transcends death. The Grabber seeks vengeance in “Black Phone 2,” starring Ethan Hawke and Mason Thames

In PH cinemas Oct 15

2022 saw the release of The Black Phone to a successfully terrified audience, introducing the Grabber (Ethan Hawke) as a sinister new horror figure in moviegoers’ future nightmares. For writer-producer-director Scott Derrickson, the success of his film was personally gratifying. “It was extremely rewarding to see audiences embrace the film the way they did, specifically because so much of it came directly from my own childhood,” Derrickson says. “As an artist, seeing those personal feelings and memories connect with so many people—especially young people—added a sense of purpose to the darker memories of my childhood. It made me feel like it was all somehow meant to be.”