Scott Derrickson Passed on Black Phone 2 — Until Joe Hill Dropped the One Idea That Changed His Mind

The Black Phone was one of those rare horror releases that actually stuck the landing: great reviews, over $161 million worldwide, and a loud, happy audience. Normally that means a sequel within seconds, but director Scott Derrickson and co-writer C. Robert Cargill were stubbornly patient. They were not going to force it. The spark finally came from Joe Hill himself, and once they heard it, Black Phone 2 basically greenlit itself.

The hook that made them say yes

Cargill says Hill pitched it in one chilling sentence. Honestly, it is the kind of line you wish you had thought of first.

He just said, 'A phone rings, Finney answers, and it is The Grabber calling from hell.'

That was enough. As Cargill told Bloody Disgusting, the idea clicked, and the team jumped in.

Four years later, and way colder

The sequel picks up four years after the first film. Finney (Mason Thames) is trying to live with the fallout from his abduction and the fact that he killed The Grabber (Ethan Hawke). Problem: The Grabber is not done with him. Death just gives him a longer reach.

For the setting, Derrickson wanted a sharp left turn. He was proud of how the first movie recreated his 1978 North Denver, all working-class grit and bike-scuffed streets. This time, he went to a place he knows just as well: the winter camps he attended as a teenager. Think Rocky Mountains at night, brutal wind chills that can drop to 60 to 70 below, that quiet, brittle kind of cold that makes every sound feel dangerous. We have seen countless summer-camp slashers; a 1982 winter-camp horror movie is a rarer beast. If you have spent years begging for a proper icy-camp setting, this is the one you have been waiting for.

So what is Black Phone 2 actually about?

• It is set in 1982, with Finney now 17 and his sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) 15.
• The Grabber (Hawke), stronger in death than he was in life, targets Gwen to twist the knife on Finney.
• Gwen starts getting black phone calls in her dreams and sees visions of three boys being stalked at a winter camp called Alpine Lake.
• During a winter storm, Gwen pushes Finney to go to that camp. What they find ties The Grabber to their family in a way that blindsides them.
• Bottom line: Finney and Gwen have to face a killer who has leveled up from the afterlife and is now tied to them in a personal, ugly way.

The Black Phone 2 hits theaters on October 17. Given that setup, I am expecting a mean little ghost story with teeth — and the kind of cold that gets into your bones.