Black Phone 2 - Truth is Scary

Cinematic Doctrine

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MOVIE DISCUSSION:

Kathryn joins Melvin to discuss Scott Derrickson's latest horror feature, Black Phone 2! The two get into what sets it apart from other franchises like A Nightmare on Elm Street, how it holds up against the first film, and how it's... more Christian? Oh snap!

Topics:

• (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 23-minutes discussing Sigourney Weaver saying at NYCC 2025 that there's a "very strong first 50 pages" script of Alien that includes Ripley, and where she is at the time, and the two wonder both earnestly and cynically about the idea of a Ripley-included Alien sequel in the 2020s (PATREON EXCLUSIVE)
• First things first... is it A Nightmare on Elm Street meets Friday the 13th?
• Exploring the pervasive online joke that The Grabber, as a new "slasher icon", is an industry plant, and why it may feel that way.
• The dialogue here is bad. Full stop. The drama works if you buy into it, but the bad dialogue is a heavy cost.
• Kathryn and Melvin both had this fear: is Scott Derrickson just gonna do Sinister again? Thankfully, the answer is more nuanced than that.
• The spirituality isn't Deistic and the way Gwen prays and interacts with Jesus is as though Jesus is an active, non-corporeal character in the film.
• Talking Terrence, The Grabber, and Finn.
• There's no doubt in Melvin's mind that Scott Derrickson is evoking real-life Protestant Camp abuse tales with the drama and setting in Black Phone 2, including Kanakuk Kamp, LifeWay Camp, and Matt Chandler's church.
• Kathryn, "Knowing the truth, believing the truth, and speaking the truth can be really scary."

Recommendations:

• In the Mouth of Madness (1995) (Movie)
• Caveat (2021) (Movie)

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