MOVIE NEWS – Director Scott Derrickson drew inspiration from a teenage trauma and a classic literary work to craft the chilling motifs of Black Phone 2, including a frozen vision of Dante’s Inferno.

A teenage experience and a literary influence helped Scott Derrickson shape the dark, unsettling themes of his new horror film, Black Phone 2. The personal trauma came from a two-week winter scouting camp in the Rocky Mountains during his high school years.

“The weather was constantly awful, with blizzards and fierce winds,” Derrickson recalled at the recent Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. “We stayed in old cabins that creaked and groaned in the storms. We always felt like we were in danger, and maybe it really wasn’t a safe place. On top of that, the temperatures were brutally low — we were always freezing. I wove those experiences directly into our movie.”

The story now follows high schoolers Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) and Finney (Mason Thames) as they search for the Grabber’s trail in an abandoned winter camp after the killer sends a message from beyond through the girl’s dreams. The camp becomes a key location thanks to another thematic layer — a direct reference to Dante’s Inferno. In his Divine Comedy, the Renaissance poet depicted the circles of Hell, a vision that strongly influenced the creative team behind Black Phone 2.

“The Dante reference is no coincidence — I love the Divine Comedy,” Derrickson explained. “I’ve read the whole thing, but like most people, the Inferno stuck with me the most. In the ninth circle of Hell, the worst sinners — traitors — are frozen into a lake of ice. And the Grabber is a traitor too: he betrayed his victims, the children. That’s where the two motifs come together — the winter camp and the icy ninth circle — and everything falls into place.”

(Black Phone 2 – Hungarian release: October 16, 2025)

Source: UIP Dunafilm