Bad dreams haunt 15-year-old Gwen as she receives calls from the black phone and sees disturbing visions of three boys being stalked at a winter camp. Accompanied by her brother, Finn, they head to the camp to solve the mystery, only to confront the Grabber — a killer who’s grown even more powerful in death.

Scott Derrickson reunites with author Joe Hill and star Ethan Hawke to dig deeper into the mythos of The Grabber, and the result is a bigger, darker, more supernatural horror story, one that doesn’t simply repeat the scares of the first film, but twists and expands them into something far more sinister.

Set in 1982, the film picks up with Finney (Mason Thames), the lone survivor who escaped The Grabber’s basement hell. But survival hasn’t brought peace. Finney is still being hunted, if not in body, then in memory. He’s restless, angry, slipping into violent outbursts as the trauma keeps its claws in him. Meanwhile, his younger sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) continues to be haunted by chilling visions, visions that point to the origins of The Grabber’s evil.

When Gwen’s dreams lead the siblings to the eerie Alpine Lake Camp: a faded summer retreat holding more secrets than smiles—the film shifts from suburban terror to a wintry, isolated, emotionally charged ghost story. The camp becomes a character in itself: abandoned cabins, icy docks, dark forest lines, and a history that refuses to stay buried. It’s the perfect stage for vengeance to rise from the cold.

Derrickson leans hard into 1980s horror styling here. Think fog-drenched nights, haunting analogue synth, gritty camera texture, killer silhouettes appearing where they shouldn’t be. The suspense isn’t loud or cheap, it creeps. It stalks. And when the jump scares come? They hit like a shovel to the ribs.

But the smartest and most compelling shift in Black Phone 2 belongs to Gwen. Madeleine McGraw steps forward as the emotional core and supernatural conduit of the story. Her psychic abilities become the narrative’s driving force, and watching her push back against a horror that wants to consume her is gripping, raw, and genuinely unsettling. McGraw delivers a performance that’s both tender and terrifying, cementing Gwen as one of the most interesting young horror protagonists of the moment.

And then there’s Ethan Hawke. If The Grabber was frightening before, he’s absolutely nightmare-fuel incarnate now. No longer a man, but a vengeful spectre dredged up from Hell itself, The Grabber returns as a demon wearing the memory of a monster. Hawke’s physicality, voice modulation, and twisted emotional texture make him horrifying to watch—you cannot look away. His mask, his grin, the quietness of his cruelty… It’s chilling in all the right ways.

Black Phone 2 doesn’t try to out-shout or out-shock the first film — it evolves it. It widens the lore. It deepens the emotional impact. It gives the survivors agency—and then tests that agency against a horror that refuses to stay dead.

With Halloween looming, horror fans are in for a treat. Black Phone 2 is cold, eerie, grief-stained, and deeply atmospheric; the kind of horror film that lingers like smoke in your clothes and whispers back to you after the credits roll.

Image: Universal Pictures

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Finney Shaw, a shy but clever 13-year-old boy, is abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of little use. When a disconnected phone on the wall begins to ring, Finney discovers that he can hear the voices of the killer’s previous victims. And they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney. Starring four-time Oscar® nominee Ethan Hawke in the most terrifying role of his career and introducing Mason Thames in his first-ever film role, The Black Phone is produced, directed, and co-written by Scott Derrickson, the writer-director of Sinister, The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Marvel’s Doctor Strange.

When it comes to filmmakers who continue to find new avenues to take the horror genre in, Scott Derrickson is a top-of-mind choice. With his work on the likes of Sinister and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Derrickson has proven he can explore new corners of the genre, and he crafts a thoroughly unique, and claustrophobic cinema experience with The Black Phone. Tapping into fears of stranger danger, imprisonment and the horrors that hide in our community, Derrickson delivers a retro horror film of intense psychological fear and shocking gore factor, and fright fans looking for a good scare will be impressed. Adapted from the short story by noted horror author Joe Hill, Derrickson sticks close to the source material, and its intriguing to see how he mixes in different subgenres within The Black Phone to bring something new to the big screen.

Derrickson’s work on The Black Phone gave me an impression similar to what John Carpenter did with the original Halloween. Watching this film I felt as if it might have been a work that Carpenter himself would have made had he been given the opportunity back in the late 1970s. The atmosphere, threat and menace of The Black Phone made me liken it to a ‘terror film’ and its cat and mouse game between young kidnap victim Finney Shaw (Mason Thames), and The Grabber (Ethan Hawke) has a real menace and antagonism to it. Derrickson finds many different avenues to create scares. Whether they be childhood trauma and abuse, the presence of this dark and twisted killer or the film’s use of the supernatural, there are moments that will make you jump out of your seat.

Stepping into the role of the fiendish, crazy menace of the film’s lead villain, The Grabber, is Ethan Hawke and he falls into this creepy role completely. Hiding himself behind a demonic mask, The Grabber is a serial killer who is adding to his collection of dead children, and he’s a very scary man. There’s no motive for The Grabber’s actions given in The Black Phone, and this makes his presence that much scarier. He just does. He’s raw impulse, and you never come to understand the thought or rationale behind the horror, and this makes his actions all the more sinister. Hawke disappears behind The Grabber’s mask, and he’s a monster in this one. Toying with Finney through a series of twisted ‘games’ The Grabber is ritualistic in his actions, and Hawke doesn’t hide away from the evil that this character represents.

Throughout this film, you’re kept on the edge of your seat. With a developed shorthand as director and performer, Derrickson and Hawke keep the audiences in a vice of suspense and The Black Phone’s third act hits with the force of a hatchet, causing you to be in a fit of panic in the film’s final moments. The Black Phone is an inventive and different kind of horror picture, and fans of the genre will feel a shiver of fear run up their spines with this one.

Image: Universal Pictures

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Starring Alexander Skarsgard as Viking prince Amleth, who following the murder of his father, King Aurvandill (Ethan Hawke) at the hands of his evil uncle Fjölnir (Claes Bang), Amleth sets out to revenge his father and take his kingdom no matter the cost.

Bringing this colossal epic to life up on the big screen is noted visionary filmmaker Robert Eggers’ who has shown with his last two pictures, The Witch and The Lighthouse, that he has the makings of an auteur, and The Northman again clarifies this. Regarded for his keenly detailed eye and maintaining a strong focus for narrative and character, Eggers devotes everything of himself as an artist to The Northman, and his commitment shows in every frame that makes its way to the canvas of the screen. Appearing as an almost Wagnerian painting, The Northman is utterly beautiful to look upon, yet it hides nothing back from the Dark Age in which its brooding narrative is set. This is an age of iron and blood, and while the locations of Norway, The Rus and Iceland are beautiful to look upon, they do not hide the savagery that takes place.

Eggers crafts The Northman as a truly epic film and looks back to the ancient Viking sagas for the setting for his tale, and he tells the revenge tale of Prince Amleth, which inspired Shakespeare’s own Hamlet. Broad in scope and scale, Eggers dives deep into Norse mythology for his tale and his is a story where both man and The Æsir are at work and where men turn themselves into beasts. The language and style of The Northman are utterly Shakespearian, and it is an altogether different kind of epic film that moves at its own pace and pays tribute to the Icelandic sagas of the past. Amleth’s path to his ultimate revenge is tempered with fire at every turn and he is a character who seeks every strike to last. And as we move forward in the narrative the drama grows deeper and the action wilder.

The film’s cinematography, production design, art direction, costuming, hair and make-up, armoury and general detail are utterly fantastic to look upon, with Eggers truly transporting his audience back to a different time and place. This is a true portrait of the Dark Ages, where life and blood run cheap and where fate and fortune intertwine with each other. Cinematographer Jarin Blaschke focuses on a darkened palette of natural light, both in day and night to capture the dark, somewhat nihilistic tone of the narrative, and roaring fires and stark clouds cloak this film in light. The images he captures are vivid and present Alexander Skarsgard’s Amleth as an almighty titan, and the film’s wild excesses will capture your full attention. The Northman is simply stunning to look upon, and it is like watching an Arthur Rackham painting come to life.

Standing at the centre of Eggers’ mighty narrative is Alexander Skarsgard and this Scandinavian acting force gets to channel his inner Viking heritage as the vengeful and crazed Prince Amleth. Robbed of his kingdom and birthright, Skarsgard’s Amleth is now more animal than man, called the ‘Bear-Wolf’, he has become a ferocious berserker who knows no mercy and who lives for the war cry of the battlefield. But when destiny and fortune present themselves, Amleth seizes on his chance for vengeance and a dark road opens up before him to take it. Skarsgard is an utter beast as Amleth, exuding power and strength as the personification of rage, but as he begins his road to the quest for his own revenge, his character changes in unforeseen ways and is tested by dramatic choices. Skarsgard presents Amleth as a tragic-hero figure and as his quest changes him, as secrets are brought to life and the presence of fate interjects on his behalf, the ethics of his plan soon begin to weigh on his heavy brow. Skarsgard holds the gaze of his audience as Amleth and his raw performance is incredibly powerful in its presentation.

Standing beside Skarsgard is Anya Taylor-Joy as Olga of the Birch Forest, a Slavic sorceress who soon becomes a key part to his mission of revenge as well as the love of his life. Standing as a rare beauty in such a chaotic time, Taylor-Joy’s Olga of the Birch Forest is a strong and powerful woman whose wild sorcery gives her dangerous powers, and she is not one to be trifled with. As an actress, Taylor-Joy presents Olga as a survivor, and she shares incredible chemistry onscreen with Skarsgard, and as the narrative moves forward we see them come together in a primordial love that is touching and exhilarating to watch. Taylor-Joy also jumps headfirst into the muck and blood of production, and she puts her mark on the narrative.

Providing a key level of support to The Northman are performers Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Ethan Hawk and Willem Defoe and each has a key role to play in the film’s vengeance narrative. As the treacherous Fjölnir the Brotherless, Claes Bang makes for a striking adversary and he squares up to Skarsgard with sword in hand. Nicole Kidman grabs your attention as the complicated and cunning Queen Gudrún, Amleth’s mother and a woman who is not who she presents herself to be. And there’s plenty of venom laced into her performance. Ethan Hawke is an old-war dog as King Aurvandill War-Raven, Amleth’s father and Fjölnir’s brother who strives to teach his son to rule in the old ways, but who is cut down by cold iron and strikes the spark that leads to his son’s path of vengeance. And finally, Willem Dafoe as Heimir the Fool, brings Amleth guidance where needed, and his kooky performance is sure to keep the audience somewhat ill at ease.

The Northman is a film of savage fury and keeps to the history and customs of the Viking Age. As a portrait of a true pagan society, Eggers keeps everything related to historical accuracy and the strong themes of religion, blood ties and family legacies are sewn into the narrative. Questions of right and wrong and moments of perspective and clarity keep this narrative interesting and the audience guessing. There’s a true ferocity to the storytelling and its presentation in The Northman and when Amleth finally draws forth the demonic sword Draugr and sets to his task of vengeance blood flows and heads roll. Key cinematic moments including The Berserker Raid in The Land of the Rus, which is a fierce and haunting spectacle to witness, and the film’s climactic showdown on the gates of Hel, at the base of the Volcano Hekla, is an awe-inspiring sight to witness, especially when set to the rousing score of Robin Carolan and Sebastian Gainsborough.

The Northman stands alone as an utter triumph of the silver screen. As a thunderous portrait of the Viking Age and its incredibly complex and intricate character study, The Northman succeeds on every level of creativity and this Dark Age picture is sure to bound itself to your soul.

Image: Universal Pictures

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Stripped of his powers following the imprisonment of Khonshu by the greater gods of Egypt, Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac) is now back in control and refusing to let Marc Spector out! Together with Spector’s intrepid and adventurous wife Layla (May Calamawy), the two of them descend into the foreboding presence of Ammit’s tomb and the mysteries and dangers that lie within it. What results is an energetic, thrilling and scary confrontation with a dark evil that leads to one hell of a sudden plot twist. And this ending will have you in complete and utter shock.

Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead return to the director’s chair once more for Episode Four of Moon Knight, ‘The Tomb’ and the two of them raise the stakes to 11. And things get freaky quickly. As Oscar Isaac’s Steven Grant and May Calamawy Layla El-Faouly descend into the shadows of Ammit’s tomb things take a twist for the horrific and we’re in brand new territory in the MCU with this new twist. While there have been undertones of the horror genre within the MCU, this is the first time that we’ve seen them come up and a good helping of gore and Egyptian scares come to life as Grant and Layla have to contend with reanimated Egyptian mummies and the threat of living mummification! The scares come fast and things get crazy, and audiences will appreciate the thrills.

Twists, turns and hidden truths all come to light in ‘The Tomb’ and there are many unexpected moments that will have you giving this episode a second take. Of interest is how Benson and Moorhead bring real Egyptian history to the series and the source of Ammit’s resting place, and her final avatar, the famed conqueror Alexander the Great, who has been guarding her terrible powers for more than 2,000 years is sure to make audiences go ‘WOW’, and is a very clever narrative moment on behalf of Moon Knight’s storytellers. ‘The Tomb’ is also important because of a certain meeting of the minds between May Calamawy’s Layla and Ethan Hawke’s Arthur Harrow, where he divulges a devastating secret that has terrible consequences for Isaac’s Marc Spector. And this revelation opens up the dark past that is a part of Spector’s action as a mercenary.

Both the action, horror and drama of ‘The Tomb’ all come together in this episode, but it’s the episode’s explosive final moments that make you sit up and take notice. Never before has a series in the MCU been this clever or shocking, and just like the ending of Avengers: Endgame, audiences will be holding their breath and thinking ‘what the hell just happened here!’ While the less that is said about these shocking final moments the better, this twist changes everything we ever knew about Moon Knight and it’s anyone’s guess as to where the series will go now. The crazy is here and it’s fully insane in its presentation.

The surprises just keep on coming in Moon Knight and just when you thought this series couldn’t get any stranger or daring its filmmakers throw one hell of a twist at the audience and the result will have you wide-eyed and daring to know what happens next. And what comes next you ask? Well, we’ll have to wait and see. But damn is it about to get exciting from this moment going forward.

Moon Knight streams every Wednesday on Disney+

Image: Walt Disney Pictures

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Following the explosive and shocking ending of Episode One of Moon Knight, ‘The Goldfish Problem’, mild-mannered Steven Grant suddenly has his dull life ripped away from him and falls down the rabbit hole into the life of the mysterious and dangerous mercenary Marc Spector. While unravelling the chaotic life of Spector, Grant also comes face-to-face with Spector’s enemy Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke), a benevolent cult leader who tries to persuade Grant to join his cause and who reveals to him the truth of the Moon God Khonshu and his battle with him. But it’s a truth that Grant can’t accept and with the darkness closing in around him he’s forced to choose between Harrow and Khonshu and the new path that lies before him.

Episode Two of Moon Knight, ‘Summon the Suit’ finds a new pair of directors, Aaron Moorhead & Justin Benson, taking over directing duties from Mohamed Diab and they continue to move forward at pace with this exciting new chapter of the MCU. Once again themes of identity remain at the forefront of Moon Knight, and Moorhead and Benson keep things interesting as they literally bring Steven Grant directly in contact with the elusive Marc Spector. Moorhead and Benson give Oscar Isacc, celebrated performer that he is, the room to expand and play out both roles and via Isaac’s performance we see two radically different characters battling with one another and trying to get one up on each other. This duelling case of identity is incredibly interesting to watch unfold and it keeps the narrative, and its surprises within, fresh and shocking.

‘Summon the Suit’ is a very important episode as it introduces two brand new characters to Moon Knight, and both have big gravitas to bring to the show. Cast as Spector’s wife Layla El-Faouly is May Calamawy and she brings a whipsmart action and in-your-face quality to the part. Unaware of Spector’s relationship with Grant, Layla is caught off guard and her standing as an archeologist and rule-breaker is brought to the screen in a big way. Calamawy’s introduction as Layla is a way by which audiences can get an insight into the complicated actions of Grant/Spector and she’s sure to have a big role to play going forward. Alongside Layla, audiences also come face to face with the disgruntled and angry Egyptian God of the Moon, Khonshu, and he’s none too pleased with the appearance of Grant, stifling Spector’s mission. Voiced by the legendary F. Murray Abraham, Khonshu is a straight-up bully and his antagonistic bent and domineering relationship with Spector keeps the narrative on its feet.

This second episode also brings Isaac’s Grant face-to-face with the series’ primary villain Arthur Harrow, who is played with a reserved menace by Ethan Hawke. And it’s a very compelling meeting of the minds. What we learn from this meeting is that Hawke’s Harrow once served the wrathful Khonshu as his avatar before vacating the role and finding his purpose as the vehicle for Ammit and her judgemental powers. While Harrow at first feigns a sense of grand benevolence and care, it soon becomes clear that he is only interested in serving Ammit’s dark desires and the depths of his evils are brought forth quickly. Hawke is a terrific addition to Moon Knight and his presence as the series’ chief antagonist is only going to grow in intrigue as we move forward.

But Episode 2, ‘Summon the Suit’ is not just about mere face-to-face confrontations, but at its core is Grant/Spector accepting his mission and coming into his power as Moon Knight. This power that he controls is gifted to him when he is cloaked in the armour of Khonshu, or ‘the suit’. And it takes a bit of practice for Grant to get the hang of it. But once he relinquishes control to Spector, we see this hero get to go to work against a foul and demonic creature. It’s a lot of fun to see Spector cut loose inside ‘the suit’ and the combat and action of ‘Summon the Suit’ is different and complex due to the shared identity and competency of both Steven Grant and Marc Spector. While it’s amusing to watch Grant pretend to ‘play hero’, it’s when Spector steps up that Isaac can go full anti-hero and he looks epically cool flying through the London sky and slashing curved blades around in a fury of controlled chaos.

We’re getting into the crux of the narrative now for Moon Knight and the action is moving quickly. Character, narrative and action are fit for purpose in this series and the excitement is ramping up quickly.

Moon Knight streams every Wednesday on Disney+

Image: Walt Disney Pictures

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Mild-mannered and slightly jittery museum gift shop attendant Steven Grant (Oscar Issac) is suffering from severe paranoia and an agonising fear of falling asleep. Controlled by insomnia and a mind that is slowly beginning to fracture, he thoughts wander to crazy and violent dreams that see him coming face to face with a mysterious cult led by the omnipotent Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke). But soon Steven realises that these dreams are not actually ‘dreams’ but the actions of a second personality inside of him, the violent and capable Marc Spector (Isaac), a mercenary who is waging a war against Harrow’s zealots and who has pledged himself to the Egyptian Moon-God Khonshu, and who is ready to do whatever is necessary to save the world.

Anytime a new Disney+ series from Marvel Studios is announced there is a tremendous amount of fanfare and excitement and Marvel Studios’ new chapter in the ever-broadening MCU, Moon Knight is a show to be very excited for. And brace yourself for the rush because Moon Knight is unlike anything the MCU has seen before. Twisting, dark and with multiple narrative threads that weave in and out of one another along, with featuring one extremely complicated protagonist, Moon Knight is something entirely fresh. And director Mohamed Diab amps up in a bold new direction. Bringing together an intrepid globe-trotting spy story, ancient Egyptian mythology and a mind-bending character study, Moon Knight is truly different from what has come before and this first episode feels like something akin to The Bourne Identity meets Fight Club by way of Indiana Jones.

Stepping into the MCU as our newest hero is Oscar Issac in the duelling roles of Marc Spector and Steven Grant. But how is he these two individuals and how can he portray them at the same time. Well, Spector suffers from dissociative identity disorder and Grant is actually a construct of his mind that jumps back and forth between the two of them. While for the most part Episode One, ‘The Goldfish Problem’, is told from the point-of-view of Steven, Marc is hovering away in the background and as the action steps up and Steven is thrown into danger the brutal and unhinged Marc Jumps out and things get bloody very quickly. These duel roles give Isaac a lot of room to play with as an actor and he does an incredible job of convincingly playing these two different characters. As Steven, he’s a bent-over loser and hopeless reject, before instantly turning into the brooding and violent Spector. It’s interesting to watch and we’re only at the start of this complicated character journey.

Facing off against Isaac’s Spector/Grant is Ethan Hawke as religious zealot Arthur Harrow and this guy is a solid freak. Best described as a combination of Jim Jones and Josef Mengele by way of Steve Jobs, Harrow is the vehicle for the destructive and judgemental power of the Egyptian deity and demoness Ammit. A crocodile-headed god of terrifying power, Harrow and his cult are looking to unleash Ammit’s severe power onto the world once more and somehow Spector is standing in their way. And it’s Steven who gets thrown into the mess of it all. Hawke brings an uneasy calm to Harrow and there’s something extremely off-putting about his uneasy temperament and fanaticism to unleash Ammit. Being bound to Ammit’s will also gives Harrow the power to channel dangerous magic and I have a feeling we’re only going to see his power grow as this series moves forward.

Narratively Episode One ‘The Goldfish Problem’, is a terrific introduction to a brand new superhero mythology in Moon Knight and right from the start, it feels fresh. Director Mohamed Diab lets both the narrative and action play out naturally, and in line with Spector’s DID, and the result grabs your attention. Cutting back and forth between Steven and the explosive actions of Spector leads to some very intense moments and the action is thrown into overdrive in the second act of the episode and things get charged up quickly. Moon Knight has long been regarded as one of Marvel Comics more violent and unhinged characters, and the new series keeps this trait as a core part of the show. Moon Knight packs some serious violence to it and when Marc Spector takes over things get bloody quickly. Diab showcases this violence as an interesting part of the series and it certainly adds to the spy genre stylings that the new series explores.

Episode One, ‘The Goldfish Problem’, is an incredibly interesting and compelling start to this brand new Disney+ and all throughout it you’re waiting for Spector to transform into Moon Knight and take the fight to Harrow’s evil forces. It’s a moment that happens in the closing moments of the episode and damn is it BADASS to watch. Brutal and to-the-point, the closing moments of ‘The Goldfish Problem’ prove that Moon Knight is not a hero to get on the wrong side of and with his introduction we have a serious serving of grit applied to the MCU that it has long been needing. Seeing Isaac garbed in the one of a kind armour of Moon Knight, complete with his glowing white eyes is an epic moment for MCU fans and while his appearance as this new costumed hero might only be brief it promises something truly different from the MCU and we’re only at the beginning of this bold new story.

‘The Goldfish Problem’ is a terrific start to Moon Knight and the MCU has a brand new hero that you’d better watch out for. Brutal, intense and packed out with some of the most unique narrative storytelling I can remember ever seeing in the MCU, Moon Knight is a series that is about to take the MCU into a brand new direction and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Moon Knight streams every Wednesday on Disney+

Image: Walt Disney Pictures

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