kOzumikku コズミック

Personally, the movie was just meh. As someone who absolutely loved The Black Phone and has been a fan since the original release, I have to say that the only truly impressive thing about the new installment was its aesthetics. The visual style was great, but everything else fell flat. The plotline was messy and difficult to follow, Ernesto’s character felt like an unnecessary addition, and out of no where since there was no mention of him whatsoever in the first movie which leaves me to believe that the writers clearly didn’t plan ahead for the sequel; they just went with the flow and added a new character without any explanation. Also the inclusion of a romance subplot added nothing meaningful to the story.What made the first Black Phone so special was how different it felt from other horror films. It didn’t rely on overused possession tropes or try to force in a love story it focused entirely on the tension, the fear, and the psychological aspect of the horror. That focus is what made it stand out. In this new movie, though, it feels like the writers lost sight of that. The romance came out of nowhere and served no real purpose, which only distracted from the horror elements that made the original so memorable. Overall, it seems like they tried to broaden the appeal rather than stay true to what made The Black Phone unique in the first place and in doing so, they lost the core that fans like me loved about it.