David’s Download: Black Phone 2 and Frankenstein Reviews

Per usual, October was fertile ground for horror releases this year from Vicious and The Hand that Rocks the Cradle on streaming to Bone Lake, Good Boy, and many others in theaters. In classic spooky season fashion, I tried to catch as many of the new fright flicks as possible, while revisiting several horror classics in between. The releases that we’ll dive into today are the two that stood out the most to me, for different reasons. Let’s start with Netflix’s Frankenstein…

Frankenstein

It’s truly a shame that Netflix isn’t giving Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein a wide theatrical release because it deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible. Like most of Del Toro’s films, Frankenstein is a visual feast, with ornate gothic backdrops, gorgeous costumes, and a mix of impressive practical and computer-generated effects.

I’ve never read Mary Shelley’s original novel, nor seen previous film adaptations of the story, but I was surprised at how timely the source material still feels in 2025, packed with resonant themes of love, loss and personal choice. Del Toro’s adaptation is a sweeping epic that locates the heart and humanity within the horror and spectacle. Frankenstein is everything I wanted last year’s gothic horror - the slow, hollow Nosferatu - to be.

Despite pounds of makeup and prosthetics covering Jacob Elordi, his portrayal of the “monster” moved me emotionally, with Oscar Isaac, Mia Goth, and Christoph Waltz also turning in strong performances.

If you have the chance to see this movie in a cinema before it drops on Netflix in November, you should absolutely seize the opportunity!

Black Phone 2

On the other hand, we have Black Phone 2, a sequel that does a complete 180 from its predecessor.

I thoroughly enjoyed the original Black Phone. It was an efficient, scare-a-minute abduction thriller with a supernatural twist.

Unfortunately, this sequel strays from the elements that worked so well in the original, and delivers a Dollar General version of A Nightmare on Elm Street instead.

While the winter camp setting provides a unique backdrop and Ethan Hawke is creepy as ever as The Grabber, the movie becomes a victim of its own narrative trappings. The writers spend the whole movie upending the rules (and the kinetic energy) of its predecessor, trying to explain why The Grabber still has power in the afterlife and connecting Finney’s family’s past to the killer. All of this retcon leads to long stretches of dialogue and minimal thrills, not to mention a bloated runtime of nearly two hours.

Do yourself a favor and send this Black Phone sequel to voicemail!