The Black Phone 2 director says the horror sequel is more intense because “the teenagers who grew up really loving” the first movie are now “the kids who paid to see Terrifier”

The Black Phone 2 is reintroducing both Mason Thames’s Finney and Ethan Hawke’s chilling Grabber – despite the fact that the Grabber perished in the initial film.

This time, however, the stakes are elevated significantly, and, as director Scott Derrickson elaborates, that’s due to the audience evolving alongside the series.

“The reason I aimed to create a high school film was that it presents more compelling emotional stakes,” Derrickson mentions in the latest edition of SFX magazine, which showcases It: Welcome to Derry on the cover and arrives at newsstands on Wednesday, October 8.

“It necessitates a different tone compared to a middle school coming-of-age supernatural film. You are inevitably going to need to be more violent, more forceful, and perhaps more shocking, to heighten elements of the movie beyond what the initial film accomplished, because a significant part of the audience, the adolescents who fondly admired The Black Phone, are now older. They’re the kids who went to see Terrifier. Thus, there’s certainly increased intensity and more gore. We received an R rating, and one reason for that was gore. The first movie had no gore whatsoever.

“The transition that occurs between Middle School and High School might be one of the most significant, most dramatic changes experienced in one’s lifetime, and I was genuinely intrigued by who these characters have transformed into, having endured something so exceptional,” he adds. “I didn’t seek to amplify the violence and horror merely for edginess. I was focused on crafting a more mature narrative, delving deeper into the emotions of these characters and striving to create a film that functions as a duo.”

Alongside Thames and Hawke, the film features Madeleine McGraw, Demián Bichir, Miguel Mora, and Jeremy Davies.

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The Black Phone 2 is scheduled for release in theaters on October 17. Discover more in the most recent issue of SFX magazine, which will be available starting Wednesday, October 8. Here’s the It: Welcome to Derry cover you should keep an eye out for on newsstands below…