The 2022 horror film The Black Phone was a groundbreaking success upon its release. Now, director Scott Derrickson is set to return for a sequel, aptly titled The Black Phone 2, and he is teasing that the follow-up will be “more graphic” than the original.
In an interview, Derrickson elaborated on one of the key distinctions between The Black Phone and its sequel. The first film centered on a middle school protagonist, but with the passage of time, the sequel will now follow this character as a high school student.
This shift has prompted Derrickson to take the film in a darker direction. As he explained in an interview, it is no longer a “middle school coming-of-age movie” but “a high school coming-of-age movie.”
The Black Phone 2
Here’s what Derrickson had to say about The Black Phone 2:
“The main difference is that it’s a high school coming-of-age movie, in the same way that the original movie was a middle school coming-of-age movie, but those are two very different sorts of things. You know, a high school coming-of-age movie demands more. It has to be more visceral. It has to be, I think, more graphic, scarier.”
Derrickson also reflected on the changes individuals undergo between middle school and high school, and how The Black Phone 2 will use its characters to explore these transformations alongside its horror narrative.
“I think that the change that occurs in human beings between middle school and high school, that’s some of the biggest change you go through in your life. And so to be able to revisit these characters who’ve really developed as people in the four years between the movies was also very interesting to me.”
Many details about the sequel remain undisclosed. However, it is evident that Derrickson and his team have a compelling vision for the film, particularly given how the first movie concluded. The Black Phone 2 is scheduled to arrive in theaters on October 17, 2025.
