WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for The Black Phone and Black Phone 2.

If Gen X has a boogeyman, it’s arguably the Man in the Windowless Van. Alongside memories of blissfully roaming unsupervised suburbs are warnings to avoid anyone in this particular vehicle lest you wind up on the side of a milk carton. Director Scott Derrickson explores this haunting urban legend in the 2021 horror film The Black Phone. Based on Joe Hill’s dire short story, a van emblazoned with the word “Abracadabra” hosts a sadistic serial killer known as the Grabber (Ethan Hawke), who lures young boys with the promise of magic then murders them in his dingy basement.

When Finney Blake (Mason Thames) becomes the latest to disappear, his only lifeline is a black phone mounted on the cellar’s wall. Though supposedly broken, the captive receives a series of empowering calls from the ghosts of the Grabber’s former victims. Following the success of this grim yet strangely hopeful film, Derrickson returns with Black Phone 2, adding 80s slasher atmosphere to a harrowing story of child abduction. Several years after besting the notorious murderer, Finn (Thames) follows his younger sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) to the site of the Grabber’s first murder spree. This icy sequel increases the brutality of the Grabber’s attacks while positioning Gwen as the story’s lead. While both chapters center the taboo theme of children in peril, which film is ultimately more disturbing?

We’re introduced to the Grabber by his formidable reputation. As the Colorado suburbs are papered with posters featuring missing kids, a sinister van prowls the streets driven by a dark magician. Wearing all black save for a blood-red turtleneck and billowing cape, the Grabber tops this unsettling look with white face paint, mirrored glasses, and a formal top hat. Ostensibly harmless, he stumbles across the sidewalk and into Finney’s path, pretending to drop a carton of eggs. Drawn in by the promise of a magic trick, Finney spies a bundle of black balloons and is quickly swept into the back of the van.

He awakens on a dirty mattress to face an even more terrifying nightmare. Still wearing his magician’s garb, the Grabber has donned a hideous mask. Strangely devoid of color, the devilish face is topped with a hooked nose and two curved horns protruding from its temples. A detachable bottom half allows for a variety of chilling expressions, including a toothy grin and disgruntled frown. Each appearance features a new iteration of this horrific mask, providing nerve-shattering insight into the killer’s deadly manipulation.

Several years after his violent death, the Grabber continues to live in Finn’s head. Early scenes in Black Phone 2 show the teenager plagued by visions of the preening man in his grinning mask. These trauma-driven hallucinations precede the horrors Finn will face when he follows Gwen to Camp Alpine Lake in hopes of connecting with their mother’s spirit. Upon arriving at the snow-bound lodge, Finn hears ringing from an out-of-service payphone sitting near the picturesque lake. He answers, expecting a message from yet another murdered child, but instead hears the gravelly voice of the Grabber himself.

Drawing power from his victims’ undiscovered remains, the Grabber emerges from the dead as a grotesquely decomposing corpse. Still dressed in his magician’s black, the iconic mask now covers a hideously disintegrating face, rotted from his years in the ground. We will learn that hell has stripped away the last bits of his humanity, leaving only a bloodthirsty monster determined to exact revenge.

Winner: The Black Phone

While the Grabber’s putrid remains are undeniably disturbing, nothing can compare with the image of the living serial killer roaming the streets. Playing into our collective fears, his magician’s disguise feels like a dangerous update to the maniacal clown, while his brutish and changeable mask is the deceptive face we all imagine luring kids to the back of a nightmarish van.

Trapped in the Grabber’s dirty basement, Finney must work with the few tools he can find. Thankfully a series of ominous calls offer hints to the unthinkable days ahead. Though they’ve forgotten their names, each phantom caller remembers his time spent in the Grabber’s clutches and provides a crucial clue to aid Finney’s escape. One warns him of the man’s dreadful “Naughty Boy” game while another provides the combination to a lock securing the house’s front door. Finney is only able to hear their voices, but the audience sees a parade of increasingly mangled corpses; young boys still wearing the wounds of their grisly deaths. These messages carry seeds of hope alongside a feeling of palpable rage at the unfairness of each brutal demise. 

Black Phone 2 takes us back into this horrific cell as Gwen follows the sound of the ringing phone. Now filled with graffiti, the infamous basement is haunted by the ghost of the Grabber’s final victim. Max (James Ransone), the murderer’s coked-out brother, still wanders the cellar in confusion, his brother’s ax protruding from his head. This jarring spectre sets the tone for a sequel centering on revenge. The Grabber blames Finn for Max’s death and vows to torture Gwen as symbolic retribution. Though Finn will receive calls from three murdered boys, his most terrifying messages come from the monster himself and warn of a fate perhaps worse than death—watching his beloved sister brutally slaughtered in his place. 

Winner: Black Phone 2

Though visually frightening, the boys who call Finney in the Grabber’s basement are ultimately a source of comfort and strength. But the call he receives on the banks of Alpine Lake introduces a shocking new element to this chilling world. The merciless killer is now unbound by earthly logic and taunts Finn with his appalling new power, reminding us all that “death is just a word.”

Co-written by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, The Black Phone adds to the metaphysical elements of Hill’s sleek story. Like her mother before her, Gwen is known to have prophetic dreams that all too often turn out to be true. Each night, her sleep is filled with visions of horrific abductions and the palpable fear of dying boys. Her father insists that similar nightmares drove her mother to die by suicide and demands that his daughter downplay their power. Yet hidden in the midst of these horrendous scenes are subtle clues Gwen hopes will lead to her imprisoned brother. While desperately biking through the neighborhood, she’s stopped by a vision of the ghostly boys pointing her to the empty house in which the Grabber has hidden their bodies.

In true sequel fashion, Black Phone 2 ups the ante. Sleeping alone in a snowbound cabin, Gwen is startled by a noise coming from under her bed. As she stoops to investigate, the dismembered corpse of a little boy creeps out from under the bunk while the smoldering body of another victim grabs her forearm, scalding her flesh. Outside the window, a third corpse approaches the glass as the top half of his head slides to the floor. These are the slaughtered remains of the Grabber’s first victims, murdered while he worked as the camp’s handyman. But these frightening visions are only a fraction of the danger. Powered by the horror of his earthly actions, the undead Grabber now has the ability to invade her dreams and inflict carnage that will manifest in the waking world.

Winner: Black Phone 2

This dreadful development allows the Grabber a brutal new line of attack. In addition to the faces of murdered kids, Gwen’s dreams are now filled with an ax-wielding maniac who unleashes a gleefully vicious assault. And that’s not to mention the devastating secrets her visions reveal.

Family Secrets

One of the most upsetting moments in The Black Phone has nothing to do with the notorious killer. We meet the hungover Terrence Blake (Jeremy Davies) as he snaps at his kids over an awkward breakfast. His children take turns caring for the barely functioning alcoholic while trying to avoid his drunken rage. Finney awakens one Saturday morning to the sounds of his little sister’s screams. Terrence is viciously whipping her with a belt as punishment for discussing her supposed second sight, which has drawn the attention of law enforcement. The harrowing violence escalates when Gwen threatens to shatter a bottle of vodka if her father will not leave her alone.

Black Phone 2 thankfully reunites us with Terrence a few years into sobriety, but new visions reveal the source of his addiction. The Grabber takes Gwen back to her mother’s own visions of the killer’s first suburban victim. Recognizing “Wild Bill Hickok” from her time at Alpine Lake, Hope (Anna Lore) drives to the infamous house but winds up unconscious in the back of his van. The Grabber drives back to the Blake family’s home and stages Hope’s murder as a suicide. Gwen watches her father discover the body and mistakenly blame himself for his wife’s depression.

Winner: Black Phone 2

While horrific to see Gwen beaten by her father, particularly considering the Grabber’s “Naughty Boy” game, we can trace the ruin of this once-happy family back to a moment of unbridled grief. Nothing excuses Terrence’s horrific abuse, but we now consider the traumatized man another victim in the Grabber’s sadistic games.

Though undeniably horrific, Finney’s time trapped in the basement cell ends in a moment of empowerment. Coached by the voice of his deceased friend Robin (Miguel Mora), the frightened boy develops a plan. Momentarily caught off guard by Max’s gruesome death, Finney leads the Grabber into a trap, then pummels him with the phone’s receiver, now stuffed with dirt to give it more weight. As the black phone rings one last time, each boy sends a message to his dying killer while Finney removes his beloved mask and then snaps the man’s neck with the severed cord. Still in shock, the new hero wanders outside and into the arms of Gwen, who’s led detectives to the house across the street. He returns to school with a newfound swagger and asks his crush to call him Finn.

Black Phone 2 reunites us with the hardened boy while centering Gwen’s triumphant arc. Staring into the face of certain death, she realizes that she too can harness this nightmare logic and fight the Grabber on equal footing. While he skates over the icy lake with axe in hand, Gwen intentionally goes to sleep and dives into the chilly water to retrieve the skeletal remains of his victims. Working in tandem, she and Finn remove the source of the Grabber’s power while beating the monster into submission. Now liberated from their watery graves, the murdered boys descend on their killer and drag him to the bottom of the frozen pond.

Winner: The Black Phone

While visually stunning, the ghoulish Grabber’s gliding attack can’t top the surprising moment of young Finney’s liberation. The film’s bleak dread is driven away when the formerly powerful serial killer frantically tries to cover his face then gapes in horror at the voices of the boys who’ve helped to take him down for good. 

Results: The Black Phone – two points vs. Black Phone 2 – three points

The best horror sequels build on themes from the original while spinning the story in new directions. While both deal with the taboo terror of child abduction and murder, The Black Phone explores a grounded 70s nightmare with touches of the supernatural, while Black Phone 2 turns the volume up to eleven, delighting in each grisly image and the spectre of an undead serial killer bested by empowered kids.