Black Phone 2

When i have discussions with horror fans over the world online, you can tell how different opinions people have regarding certain films. And i love that we don´t have to agree on everything, it is ok that we have different opinions regarding horror films. I remember specifically back in 2014 i was having a discussion about a horror release known as Mr. Jones from director Karl Muller. Why we brought this specific film up was because this film seemed to divide so many horror fans. Some really enjoyed it while others felt like it was a missed oppurtunity for an interesting found footage horror film. Personally i enjoyed the film, especially the strange wooden figures in the film that keep showing up in certain scenes and the mystery regarding Mr. Jones. In some ways i wonder if director Karl Muller found himself inspired by the 1999 found footage horror classic The Blair Witch Project while making Mr. Jones. Either way worth a watch if you are a fan of this genre. Speaking of horror films one director who have really made a positive impact in the horror community is the director known as Scott Derrickson. With really good horror films such as The Exporcism Of Emily Rose and of course his most beloved film Sinister, he have really found his fan base through excellent films. Deliver Us From Evil turned out to be a good film as well and i really enjoyed the special features on the blu ray release. Such a great commentary track where they tell very important details regarding the making of this film. It was in 2021 when director Scott Derrickson really surprised me with his film The Black Phone, a film that was highly praised by both movie critics and audiences as well. I did not see this film in cinema but i did rent it on digital when it was released. A very well made psychological horror film set in the 70´s with a brilliant performance by actor Ethan Hawke as The Grabber. What made The Black Phone so different from most horror films this year was how we got a look inside the mind of a very disturbed individual, while the film also captured the feeling of how vulnerable children are in very disturbing scenarios. A must watch if you have not seen it. After the success of the first film it was announced a sequel was going to be made. So here we are with a sequel and director Scott Derrickson did direct this film as well. Considering how good the first film turned out to be, is this sequel almost as good or is this just a desperate cash grab to sell tickets in cinemas?

In 1982, four years after Finney Blake ( Mason Thames ) killed the Grabber ( Ethan Hawke ), his sister Gwen ( Madeleine McGraw ) begins having dreams where she sees murders that happened at Alpine Lake Camp in 1957. During one, she recieves a call from her mother Hope ( Anna Lore ), who at the time of the 1957 murders was having similar dreams. Gwen convinces Finney and Ernesto ( Miguel Mora ), the brother of the late Robin Arellano, to travel to Alpine Lake Camp to investigate what Gewn´s dreams might mean. On the second night, Finney recieves a call on the camp´s dead payphone, this time from the Grabber. Speaking from death, the Grabber vows revenge.

Making a sequel to a film such as The Black Phone was not going to be easy. It was on my list of the best films of the year 2021 so my expectations were pretty high if im being honest. Now, i already knew we were going to be in good hands since director Scott Derrickson returned to direct this film. And i can happily say this is a solid horror film, but is it as good as the first one? Im going to give you my own opinion and say:- Not exactly as good as the first one but still good. So let me dig deeper into what i feel about Black Phone 2 and what makes this film work. The time period of the 80´s is captured well in this film. Everything from costume design to the decortated homes that we see, it feels like we are in the 1980´s and im grateful they tried to capture this through certain details. To me this is very important if you make a film set in the past, you have to be able to make it feel like they make it look like the right time period. One thing i noticed with this sequel is that this film really feels inspired by A Nightmare On Elm Street, in the sense that we get dream sequences that reminded me of Freddy Krueger ( played by iconic horror legend Robert Englund ) and how he was able to attack his victims. These scenes are cleverly constructed into the plot and they do look good as well, We do see The Grabber ( played once more with another really strong performance by Ethan Hawke ) return and i have to say in this film we get a whole different perspective on this character. I think this was a good idea not repeating the first film too much and go in a different direction. The actors Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw both give strong performances in Black Phone 2 and i do love their chemistry on the big screen. The one thing i feel that this film may not have as the first film is the same strong psychological horror level, you can feel it but it does not feel as powerful as it did in the first film. With that said this is still one of the better horror releases of 2025 and should be seen on digital or physical media. Black Phone 2 show that you can make a great sequel if you know how to tell a disturbing story, in a fascinating way. Im definetely getting a physical copy and so should you.

Rating: DDD

Ice Road: Vengeance

During the winter of 1990 i had a Patrick Swayze night at the home of The Robertsson family in my hometown. The father in this family named Janne had rented 2 of Patrick Swayze´s film on VHS which was Road House and another film called Next Of Kin. Road House i had already heard about on MTV and i believe a group of school girls from my class used to have posters of Patrick Swayze film Road House on their locker. We did watch this film first and we enjoyed it. It is a very simple film to be honest but if you enjoy 80´s action with a good sense of humour then this film bring some enjoyable moments. When it comes to Next Of Kin i had never heard about this film before. It turned out to be a completely different film compared to Road House, i guess you could call this film an action drama thriller combined. It was alright for being a Patrick Swayze film, but what really made this film stand out was the rest of the cast with names such as Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt, Adam Baldwin, a very young Ben Stiller and especially Liam Neeson. This was actually the first film i watched ever with Liam Neeson before i saw him in Darkman ( which is a brilliant 90´s action horror film ). Since then i have seen a lot of films with actor Liam Neeson over the years in everything from action, thrillers and drama films. Of course ever since his 2008 action film Taken he have made a lot of similar movies in this genre, or at least made lower budget action films. While some of the films are entertaining there are some films that are pretty forgettable. One film that worked though is called The Ice Road from director Jonathan Hensleigh which was released during the pandemic. The story is very simple, truck driver Mike McCann ( Liam Neeson ) takes care of his brother Gurty McCann ( Marcus Thomas ), an Iraq war veteran suffering from PTSD and aphasia. Mike is in need of a new job and get an oppurtinuty when another trucker, Jim Goldenrod ( Laurence Fishburne ), decides to accept a job driving to a mine in Manitoba, Cananda. 26 miners are trapped in there and they need wellheads to the mine. They decide to drive through the most dangerous road known as The Ice Road. What could have been a smooth mission is about to become much more complicated. This is a traditional action film in the same spirit of the 1998 truck action Patrick Swayze classic Black Dog, except lots of snow and ice instead. If you just want an old school action film i think The Ice Road is completely fine. I had no idea a sequel was coming out last year but here we are, and Liam Neeson returns as well in Ice Road Vengeance. Is this a solid sequel to the first film or is this a desperate attempt just to cash in money on the name of Liam Neeson?

Ice-road trucker Mike McCann ( Liam Neeson ), who unfortunately lost his beloved brother Gurty McCann ( Marcus Thomas ) on his mission on The Ice Road a couple of years ago, is struggling to function in ordinary day life. The final wish his brother Gurty had was he wanted his ashes to be scattered on the top of Mount Everest. Mike decides to travel to Nepal to make his brother´s last wish come true. While he arrives and get on a tourist bus, little do the passengers know that they are about to have a very rough ride up into the mountains.

Those who have followed my movie reviews over the years may remember i have pointed out several times, if you are making a sequel to a film try and do something different than the original film and that is actually the case of Ice Road: Vengeance. While the first film was more about a work mission regarding trucks, this sequel is more like a kidnapping action film that includes buses and cars instead up in the mountains of Nepal. The fact that they choosed to make this film in another country is of course positive, instead of just making a sequel taking place in the same environment. I also appreciate seeing the main character Mike McCann ( once again played by actor Liam Neeson ) in a completely different scenario than the first film. When it comes to the acting of Ice Road: Vengeance it is about as exciting as hearing certain actors saying dialogue like watching a snail crossing the road. Liam Neeson may not give a powerful performance but he is the highlight of this film. It is too bad they didn´t attempt to try making several other characters more interesting. I swear once you have seen this film there are not many characters you will remember, simply because they leave no impact at all. The most positive i can say is that some of the action scenes have a few fun moments. The rest of the film is a very basic action film as if they wanted to do something similar to VHS action movies of the 90´s. With stronger characters and a little more effort into the dialogue this could have been a fun film. What we are left with is an action film that you don´t feel have much to offer, unless you love a very simple plot and don´t care about the acting. Ice Road: Vengeance is not as terrible as it could have been, i appreciate the effort trying to make a sequel that looks different. Too bad director Jonathan Hensleigh didn´t focus more on certain details for this sequel, because i actually enjoyed The Ice Road that he directed in 2021. If you are a fan of the first The Ice Road film you might still have fun with this sequel, as long as you don´t have too high expectations. Liam Neeson is a solid action star, but he can´t make this film good enough with his screen presence when other details causes problems.

Rating: DD