The art of good storytelling seems to come naturally to the family members of Stephen King, whose son Joe Hill penned the short story that was adapted into the 2021 supernatural horror hit The Black Phone. Now the film is coming back with a sequel, Black Phone 2, which hits the big screens in October 2025. If the trailer left you struggling to comprehend as to how Ethan Hawke’s Grabber could be back in the sequel, let’s recap the events of The Black Phone.
The Black Phone is a Blumhouse Productions film, directed by Scott Derrickson. Set in a small town in 1970s Colorado, it tells the story of the Grabber, a masked serial killer who abducts and kills young boys. When 13-year-old Finney Shaw (played by How to Train Your Dragon star Mason Thames) awakens in a basement with nothing but a black rotary phone, he discovers he can communicate with the ghosts of the previous victims to find a way out alive.
Does Finney survive? And what happens to the Grabber? Let’s find out in our The Black Phone recap.
Spoilers ahead!
The Black Phone recap: What you need to remember
Who is Finney?
The protagonist of the horror movie, young Finney, lives with his sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), and their alcoholic and abusive dad. The kids constantly walk on eggshells as he gets annoyed by even the smallest of things.
Constantly bullied at school, Finney has few friends. However, he is close to his sister and the two see each other through crushes, bullies and growing pains. Till Finney gets abducted by the Grabber…
What happens to him?
Locked away in a soundproof basement, the youngster discovers that the unplugged phone in the room lets the dead victims of the killer communicate with him.
The supernatural voices include one of Finney’s friends and a high school senior he idolised. They share the different methods they had tried to escape with Finney and the lessons they learnt.
With their guidance, Finney plans his escape. After numerous failed attempts, he finally combines all of their knowledge to create traps for the Grabber.
Gwen’s supernatural powers also come in handy
Just like Finney can speak with ghosts, Gwen is also blessed (or cursed) with a sixth sense. She gets premonitions in her dreams. With the help of those, she tries to find clues about where the Grabber is holding her brother.
Towards the end of The Black Phone, she successfully leads the police to an abandoned house where the Grabber left the dead bodies of his victims, and an open grave waiting for Finney. It turns out the Grabber owns both houses. His main home (with the basement) is where he kept his victims while they were alive. The other house was used to safely dispose of the bodies.
So, does the Grabber get caught?
Technically, yes.
The Grabber’s brother, Max, is ironically a true crime buff obsessed with the serial killer’s crimes. Little does he know that his brother is the masked culprit and that the victims were all trapped in his own basement.
After he accidentally discovers Finney, he is killed by his brother. However, this creates an opportunity for Finney to hit the Grabber. Filling the phone’s handset with sand, he uses it to knock down the killer and chokes him to death with the cord.
Before he dies, the black phone rings one last time, forcing the Grabber to hear the voices of the children he killed as his ultimate punishment.
So, how can the Grabber be back in the sequel, Black Phone 2?
The recently released trailer of the sequel, which shows Hawke back in the sinister role, has fans questioning the ending of the first movie. In case you hadn’t guessed it yet, the Grabber is now a malevolent spirit.
Releasing on 17 October 2025, the sequel is set four years after The Black Phone. In the trailer, we see Gwen being plagued by nightmares about three boys being stalked at a winter camp, while Finney receives phone calls from the Grabber, who claims “dead is just a word”. The Grabber is clearly out for vengeance.
The unexpected franchise seems to be taking a spookier turn with its very realistic villain now set to become a scarier threat as an evil demon.
Not only would this help the film stand out from the prequel, which seemed self-contained with a neat conclusion, but also explore the origin story of the Grabber.
Black Phone 2 sees the return of Thames, McGraw and Hawke, with some new cast additions. Oscar nominee Demián Bichir plays the supervisor of the camp, while Arianna Rivas portrays his niece, and Miguel Mora plays the brother of one of the Grabber’s victims. Not to mention, Derrickson is once again behind the director’s chair.
Also read: 9 best movies and shows that you didn’t know were Stephen King novel adaptations
(Hero and feature image credit: Universal Pictures – © 2025 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved. via IMDb)