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Coming as the resurrected master of horror machine was still churning out film versions, without concern for excellence, the original film felt like a uninspired homage. Set against a small town 70s backdrop, young performers, gifted youths and disturbing local antagonist, it was close to pastiche and, similar to the poorest King’s stories, it was also awkwardly crowded.

Curiously the inspiration originated from from the author's own lineage, as it was based on a short story from King’s son Joe Hill, over-extended into a film that was a shocking commercial success. It was the story of the Grabber, a sadistic killer of young boys who would take pleasure in prolonging the ritual of their deaths. While molestation was not referenced, there was something clearly non-heteronormative about the character and the era-specific anxieties he was intended to symbolize, strengthened by the performer portraying him with a certain swishy, effeminate flare. But the film was too ambiguous to ever properly acknowledge this and even without that uneasiness, it was overly complicated and too high on its wearisome vileness to work as only an mindless scary movie material.

The Sequel's Arrival In the Middle of Production Company Challenges

The next chapter comes as former horror hit-makers the studio are in critical demand for a hit. This year they’ve struggled to make anything work, from the monster movie to The Woman in the Yard to the adventure movie to the total box office disaster of the robotic follow-up, and so significant pressure rests on whether the continuation can prove whether a brief narrative can become a movie that can spawn a franchise. There’s just one slight problem …

Paranormal Shift

The original concluded with our protagonist Finn (the performer) defeating the antagonist, supported and coached by the ghosts of those he had killed before. This situation has required writer-director Scott Derrickson and his co-writer C Robert Cargill to move the franchise and its antagonist toward fresh territory, converting a physical threat into a paranormal entity, a route that takes them by way of Freddy's domain with a power to travel into the real world enabled through nightmares. But in contrast to the dream killer, the antagonist is noticeably uncreative and totally without wit. The facial covering continues to be successfully disturbing but the film struggles to make him as terrifying as he momentarily appeared in the first, trapped by convoluted and often confusing rules.

Mountain Retreat Location

Finn and his frustratingly crude sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) confront him anew while snowed in at a mountain religious retreat for kids, the second film also acknowledging regarding the hockey mask killer the camp slasher. Gwen is guided there by an apparition of her deceased parent and potentially their dead antagonist's original prey while the protagonist, continuing to deal with his rage and fresh capacity for resistance, is tracking to defend her. The writing is excessively awkward in its contrived scene-setting, awkwardly requiring to leave the brother and sister trapped at a setting that will further contribute to backstories for both hero and villain, supplying particulars we weren't particularly interested in or want to know about. Additionally seeming like a more calculated move to edge the film toward the same church-attending crowds that made the Conjuring series into major blockbusters, the director includes a faith-based component, with morality now more strongly connected with the divine and paradise while evil symbolizes the devil and hell, religion the final defense against this type of antagonist.

Over-stacked Narrative

The consequence of these choices is additional over-complicate a series that was already almost failing, incorporating needless complexities to what could have been a straightforward horror movie. Regularly I noticed overly occupied with inquiries about the hows and whys of what could or couldn’t happen to become truly immersed. It’s a low-lift effort for the actor, whose visage remains hidden but he possesses genuine presence that’s typically lacking in other aspects in the ensemble. The setting is at times remarkably immersive but the majority of the consistently un-scary set-pieces are marred by a grainy 8mm texture to differentiate asleep and awake, an poor directorial selection that feels too self-aware and constructed to mirror the terrifying uncertainty of being in an actual nightmare.

Unpersuasive Series Justification

Lasting approximately two hours, Black Phone 2, similar to its predecessor, is a needlessly long and highly implausible justification for the establishment of a new franchise. When it calls again, I recommend not answering.

• Black Phone 2 debuts in Australia's movie houses on 16 October and in the US and UK on 17 October