- Content: “Marred by a Mixed Christian, Occult Worldview”
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What You Need To Know:
BLACK PHONE 2 tells an often scary, suspenseful story about people fighting the evil spirit of a demonic serial killer. However, BLACK PHONE 2 has a muddled, confused worldview that mixes Christian elements with occult ideas. BLACK PHONE 2 also has extreme bloody violence, about 13 “f” words and two strong profanities. So, MOVIEGUIDE® labels this movie excessive and unacceptable.
Content:
Strong mixed, eclectic pagan worldview with Christian and occult content/elements, plus a plot about good overcoming demonic evil, where a teenage girl who claims to have Christian faith, goes to church, prays to Jesus for help, and quotes Philippians 4:8 and 1 Corinthians 15:55, and other biblical concepts, but (according to the movie) has powers to receive messages from the afterworld and has visions of three boys who were murdered years ago by a serial killer who was killed by her brother and she, her brother and her father try to find the boys’ bodies in a frozen lake so they can stop the spirit of the dead serial killer from killing the girl who becomes vulnerable to the killer’s spirit when she sleepwalks, mixed with some other false theology where the teenage girl has an antinomian or lawless attitude toward a self-righteous legalistic woman in the story;
22 obscenities (including about 13 “f” words), one strong profanity using the name of Jesus, one GD profanity, and three light profanities;
Some very strong and strong violence involving the spirit of a deceased serial killer incudes teenage girl has visions of three boys who were murdered and dumped into barrels in a lake, killer splits a boy’s head in half, girl sees dead bloody bodies and faces, demonic spirit in the nether world tries to cut girl’s throat, and he spins her sleeping body and throws it around a kitchen, people discover bloody skeleton corpses in barrels hidden under a frozen lake, killer’s spirit tries to attack people with an ax, older teenage boy repeatedly punches a bully, and a woman’s body is seen hanging from a rope;
No implied or depicted sex but a teenage couple kisses, and boy sleeps with girl to stop her from sleepwalking;
No nudity;
No alcohol use but the father in the story is recovering from a drinking problem, which was increased when his wife committed suicide (SPOILER: It turns out the wife was murdered by the serial killer because she found out he was kidnapped and killing children);
No tobacco smoking, but older teenage boy secretly smokes marijuana to deal with his trauma over being kidnapped and then fighting and killing a vicious serial killer; and,
An older woman has a rude attitude as does a younger woman she antagonizes.
More Detail:
BLACK PHONE 2 picks up four years later from the first movie where a teenage boy named Finney fought and killed the demonic serial killer who kidnapped him and other boys. Nicknamed “The Grabber,” the serial killer wore a grinning devil mask.
Finney is still traumatized by his battle with the serial killer. He sneaks away from his house at night to smoke marijuana to alleviate the trauma.
Meanwhile, his younger sister, Gwen, is plagued by sleepwalking incidents. Gwen goes to church but has supernatural powers like their mother, who committed suicide years ago. Their mother’s suicide exacerbated their father’s drinking problem, but the father, Terrence, is now four years sober.
Gwen’s sleepwalking incidents are plagued by visions of the dead serial killer and three young boys that may be the killer’s first victims. Gwen is also seeing visions of her mother using a telephone to call her from a Christian winter camp at Alpine Lake in Colorado. Gwen discovers their mother attended the camp as a teenage counselor in 1957. The three boys may have been The Grabber’s first victims.
So, Gwen and Finney apply to be teenage counselors at the camp to investigate. Gwen’s boyfriend, Ernesto, tags along.
At the camp, the attacks by the serial killer’s spirit continue during Gwen’s sleepwalking episodes. They also get more violent. With help from the camp’s owner, Mando, Ernesto and their father, Gwen and Finney try to locate the bodies of the three boys. The heroes believe that the demonic serial killer gets increased power because the boys’ bodies were never found and properly buried.
The killer’s demonic spirit gets more desperate to stop them from finding the three bodies. Meanwhile, Gwen’s sleepwalking incidents increase, leaving her more vulnerable to The Grabber.
The stage is set for a supernatural, and bloody, battle royale.
BLACK PHONE 2 tells an often scary, suspenseful story about people fighting the evil spirit of a demonic serial killer. However, BLACK PHONE 2 has a muddled, confused worldview that mixes Christian elements with occult ideas.
For example, the killer’s demonic spirit sometimes acts like a poltergeist. Also, the concepts behind the sister’s sleepwalking incidents never make sense. The movie depicts her body as if it goes into a trance during these incidents. Meanwhile, her spirit goes wandering outside her body, leaving both her body and her spirit vulnerable to vicious attacks from the killer’s spirit. Not only is this rather silly, there’s also no explanation for it. This impossible mixture undercuts the movie’s credibility during the battle the good guys have with the demonic villain.
Also, the sister in BLACK PHONE 2 describes herself as a Christian and goes to church. In addition, she asks Jesus a few times for help and protection, and her prayers seem to be answered. She also quotes Philippians 4:8 about truth and 1 Corinthians 15:55, in which the apostle says, “Where, O Death is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” However, the sister also has an ability to communicate with the dead, not only with the demonic killer’s spirit but also with the three dead boys. God strongly condemns such occult communication as abominations in Deuteronomy 18:9-14, which means evil and loathsome. This occultism contradicts the sister’s Christian faith.
In addition, the sister has a conflict in the movie with an older Christian woman who’s part of the Christian camp’s leadership. The movie depicts the woman as a self-righteous legalist, but the sister obscenely bad-mouths her. The older woman may be a self-righteous legalist, but the sister acts like a self-righteous antinomian, or lawless and immoral, person. Both of these attitudes are unbiblical, an example of false theology.
So, BLACK PHONE 2 is marred by a mixed worldview where the Christian heroine uses her occult powers to overcome the demonic villain. The movie also has extreme bloody violence, about 13 “f” words and two strong profanities. MOVIEGUIDE® labels this movie excessive and unacceptable.
