Universal Pictures and Blumhouse just released a new trailer for the sequel to Ethan Hawke’s terrifying horror film, Black Phone 2. The short story that the original movie is based on, written by Joe Hill (son of Stephen King), follows a masked serial killer who abducts children, locks them in his basement, and torments them. That is until one kid, Finney (Mason Thames), uses a black rotary phone to speak to the ghosts of The Grabber’s victims and hatches a plan to escape, kill the Grabber, and reunite with his family. Unfortunately, Thames lives in a horror movie that made bank, so the Grabber is spinning the block on him. The sequel film sees the Grabber (Hawke) make a surprising return, transforming him from a horrific kidnapper into what can best be described as a spiritual successor to Freddy Krueger. Evidently, the circumstances of his demise were greatly exaggerated. Much like how his victims were able to get the upper hand on the Grabber by tapping into the mystical through a payphone and communicating with one, the Grabber seems to be able to do the same this time around, and now he’s haunting a teenage Finney and the kids at Colorado’s Alpine Lake Youth Camp during the winter. Black Phone 2‘s story follows Finney and his younger sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), who, after receiving a call from a black pay phone, see disturbing visions of kids being stalked at camp. Together, they work to prevent her visions from coming to pass and confront an even more powerful supernatural version of the Grabber. “The phone is ringing again. Are you going to answer?” We just got a text that included the first tease for BLACK PHONE 2! Only in theaters this October. pic.twitter.com/ckfgKx9nUT — Fandango (@Fandango) May 31, 2025 Speaking at CCXP Mexico earlier this June, director and co-writer Scott Derrickson explained the film’s premise pretty vaguely without giving away how the Grabber made it back. “The first movie was a ghost movie but all the ghosts were victims, which is a typical ghost story,” Derrickson said. “But in this one, you’ve got a ghost that is a villain.” Like many horror movies that catch fire, Black Phone made a lotta cash when it released back in 2022, earning $161 million from an $18 million budget, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Derrickson didn’t have plans on making a sequel film until Hill hit him up a couple of months after the first film’s release with the idea of having a sequel set with kids at a different stage in their lives, i.e., high schoolers, THR added. “It is certainly more violent, scarier, more graphic,” Derrickson said, regarding the sequel being more horror in comparison to its predecessor being a supernatural thriller. “And part of that is because of the age of the kids.” Fans can witness what horrors await Finney and Gwen when Black Phone 2 hits theaters on October 17.