Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Black Phone!
2025 will see the release of Black Phone 2, and the upcoming sequel has turned Ethan Hawke’s The Grabber into a copy of another iconic horror villain. 2021’s The Black Phone introduced the world to The Grabber, a mysterious child murderer played by Ethan Hawke who is known for his white, smiling, horned mask. After torturing Finn throughout the first film, he manages to kill The Grabber and escape by the end of The Black Phone. This made the announcement of Black Phone 2 quite mysterious, with many wondering how the film could work with a dead Grabber.
The first trailer for Black Phone 2 is out now, giving a look at the newest story from returning director Scott Derrickson. The upcoming sequel looks far more dreamlike than its predecessor, with it leaving The Grabber’s basement to tell a much larger story. The trailer confirms the return of Ethan Hawke’s The Grabber, raising a lot of questions about the mysterious slasher villain. The Grabber seems to have returned as he was in the original, rather than being replaced by a copycat killer, meaning that he is a lot like this other horror movie icon.
Black Phone 2 Connects The Grabber To Dreams, Just Like Freddy Krueger
His Powers Haven’t Yet Been Explained
Interestingly, the death of The Grabber seems to have given the killer supernatural powers in Black Phone 2, with him now being connected to dreams. Throughout the trailer, The Grabber can be seen entering the dreams of his victims and attacking them. It seems like his dream attacks influence the victims’ bodies in the real world, with one scene showing a character choking in her bed. Several references to dreams are made in dialogue heard in the trailer, further cementing The Grabber’s new connection to dreams.
Interestingly, this big Black Phone 2 change makes The Grabber a lot like Freddy Krueger. Freddy Krueger, the antagonist of the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, is known for attacking his victims in their dreams. The killer is able to use the wacky logic of dreams to kill people in incredibly unique ways, with them dying in their dreams before they die for real. Although The Grabber seems to be far less comedic than Freddy Krueger, the trailer teases that he will be using his new powers to kill his victims in some ways that would feel at home in a sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street.
The Grabber Is Very Similar To Freddy Krueger Now
For More Than Just Their Dream Powers
While The Grabber now has powers similar to those of Freddy Krueger, that isn’t their only connection. Interestingly, they have similar backstories as well. Before the events of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Freddy Krueger was a prolific child killer. He was eventually killed by an angry mob, and while he was burned to death, his spirit lived on to haunt future teenagers.
Similarly, The Grabber started out as a normal human, with him being a child killer who doesn’t have the aid of any supernatural powers. Finn killed him at the end of The Black Phone, and by the time Black Phone 2 starts, he seems to have come back as a supernatural entity. The sequel may explain what caused The Grabber to earn these powers, meaning that it is possible that he could wind up being even more similar to Freddy.
Black Phone 2 Making The Grabber Like Freddy Krueger Is A Big Change
Will It Pay Off?
Black Phone 2‘s changes to The Grabber are a big swing, and it isn’t yet known if this will pay off yet. Although there are supernatural elements in the original The Black Phone, the conflict between Finn and The Grabber is fairly grounded. The Grabber is weird, but he is a normal human, meaning that it is reasonable that Finn could defeat him. Making The Grabber a supernatural entity fundamentally changes the nature of the franchise, putting the supernatural elements from the original at the forefront of the sequel.
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However, supernatural elements are really the only way that Ethan Hawke’s The Grabber could have been brought back for a sequel. It could be argued that leaning into the supernatural elements was the better choice rather than merely using them as a lazy way to set up a sequel. However, it won’t be known how the film turns out until Black Phone 2 is released.
Black Phone 2
- Release Date
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October 16, 2025
- Director
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Scott Derrickson
- Writers
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C. Robert Cargill, Scott Derrickson
- Producers
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Jason Blum, Joe Hill, C. Robert Cargill, Christopher H. Warner, Ryan Turek
