Ethan Hawke is back as the terrifying Grabber in Blumhouse’s “Black Phone 2,” but this time, he’s shedding his mortal coil to become a truly supernatural force, drawing comparisons to horror icon Freddy Krueger. This evolution marks a significant shift for both the character and Hawke, who famously resisted playing villains and sequels for years. The film, hitting theaters October 17, promises a deeper dive into dream realities and trauma recovery, influenced by classics like “The Matrix.”
The highly anticipated sequel to 2022’s horror hit, “The Black Phone,” is set to unleash a new level of terror as Ethan Hawke’s masked child kidnapper, the Grabber, returns from beyond the grave. Titled “Black Phone 2,” the film sees Hawke’s character evolve into a fully supernatural entity, a development he himself likens to the legendary Freddy Krueger.
From Mortal Villain to Spectral Sin: The Grabber’s Evolution
In the original “The Black Phone,” the Grabber was a chillingly human antagonist, a masked menace who abducted children. The film, based on a short story by Joe Hill, earned critical acclaim and commercial success. However, “Black Phone 2” completely transforms the character. As USA TODAY reported, after being killed by Finney (Mason Thames) in the first film, the Grabber returns as a vengeful spirit, now able to terrorize his victims in their dreams.
This dramatic shift in the Grabber’s nature presented a unique challenge and opportunity for Ethan Hawke. He described the task as playing the “personification of sin itself,” asking, “What does sin walk like? What does sin sound like? That was just kind of how I thought about it. It’s almost like playing a gargoyle,” according to USA TODAY. This new, less corporeal form made the role “less real,” turning it into a “sense of play, almost like an opera.”
Hawke’s Hesitations: Villains, Sequels, and the Freddy Krueger Inspiration
For years, Ethan Hawke had a notable aversion to playing villains, fearing that audiences would struggle to see him as anything but evil afterward. He noted the effect on actors like Jack Nicholson after “The Shining.” However, as he approached 50, Hawke recognized the need to “change or die,” embracing roles that pushed his boundaries, as he told Nerd Reactor. This shift allowed him to take on the original Grabber role and now its supernatural iteration.
Hawke also harbored a general dislike for sequels, stating, “I don’t really like them,” explaining that some “feel born out of a storyteller’s necessity to continue talking to you” while others “feel born out of a desire to make money off of the same poster again.” The “Before” trilogy with Richard Linklater was an exception, as those films weren’t driven by box office success, but rather a genuine narrative progression, as reported by USA TODAY.
However, the unique vision for “Black Phone 2” convinced him. Director Scott Derrickson proposed “a really amazing idea to invert the lead of the film, to follow [Gwen], and to follow them through trauma recovery,” Hawke revealed in an interview with USA TODAY. The first film explored children navigating an unsafe world with absent adults; the sequel delves into “what happens after that? How do you recover from that experience?”
This new, dream-based terror immediately brought to mind the iconic Freddy Krueger from “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” Hawke openly embraced the comparison, stating he “thought a lot about Robert Englund. It was hard not to,” and found inspiration in Englund’s “iconic” portrayal and his ability to “communicate character through body language” while masked, according to USA TODAY. This focus on physical performance is crucial for a masked character like the Grabber.
The Dream World and “The Matrix” Influence
The shift to a dream-based reality posed a significant challenge for filmmakers Scott Derrickson and writer C. Robert Cargill. They needed a clear visual language to distinguish between the real world and the dream state. As Fango reported, Cargill revealed that the script was directly influenced by 1999’s “The Matrix,” particularly its formatted screenplay which helped readers understand which reality they were in.
Derrickson emphasized the importance of this clarity for the audience. “There’s a lot of back and forth between the different realities in the movie and it became very clear to me directorially that [it would be a problem] if there wasn’t an easy, clear, unmissable way for the audience to know when we were in the real world and when we were in a dream state of some sort,” he explained to Fango. The film utilizes Super 8 film visuals to achieve this distinction, reminiscent of the “kill tapes” in their previous work, “Sinister.”
A Family Affair: Horror Icons in the Making
The success of the Grabber character has also brought a unique family dynamic to the horror landscape. Ethan Hawke noted that during Halloween, many trick-or-treaters at his home were dressed as the Grabber. Coincidentally, his daughter, Maya Hawke, has also achieved horror icon status with her role in “Stranger Things,” leading to many dressing as her character, creating “a coup d’état for the family,” he joked to USA TODAY. Hawke even joined in on the fun one Halloween by dressing as the Grabber himself, blending in with fans.
The Continuing Saga
“Black Phone 2” sees the return of Mason Thames as Finney and Madeleine McGraw as Gwen. The synopsis reveals Gwen, now 15, receiving calls from the black phone in her dreams and seeing disturbing visions of boys being stalked at a winter camp. She persuades Finney, now 17, to visit the camp, where they uncover a shattering connection between the Grabber and their family’s history, forcing them to confront a killer “who has grown more powerful in death and more significant to them than either could imagine,” as per Fango.
Despite his initial aversion to sequels, Ethan Hawke hinted that the Grabber’s story might not be over. After finishing the second film, he mused, “I’m not sure this is done. I feel like there might be more to do here. Now I’m asking questions about him, even more questions than I used to have,” as reported by USA TODAY. This suggests that the supernatural Grabber could indeed become the Freddy Krueger for a new generation of horror fans, haunting their dreams for years to come.
