Black Phone 2 Star Compares Ethan Hawke's Grabber To Freddy Krueger, So All Those Elm Street Comments After The First Trailer Were On Point

With spooky season upon us (or here now, if you measure it by the availability of pumpkin spice lattes), there’s a whole bunch of upcoming horror movies on the way. But arguably the most anticipated is Black Phone 2, which we’ve been waiting for since we learned it was officially happening two years ago. While the first Black Phone movie was touted for bringing a freshly bloody take on the genre, the sequel is getting some welcome comparisons to A Nightmare on Elm Street – including with new comments from one of its stars.

Black Phone 2 Star Compares Ethan Hawke’s Grabber To Freddy Krueger

Mason Thames is back for Black Phone 2 alongside a number of his co-stars from the first movie, like Ethan Hawke, of course, reprising The Grabber, and Madeleine McGraw, Jeremy Davies and Miguel Mora. When talking about the upcoming sequel with Entertainment Weekly, he said this about what’s to come:

As you might recall from the 2021 movie, Mason Thames’ Finney succeeds in killing the terrifying serial killer known as The Grabber by the end. So how can he return for a sequel? Well, since the whole premise of The Black Phone had to do with the line between the dead being open, Finney and his sister’s run-ins with him are not over. And, much like Freddy Kreuger, it seems like The Grabber can now haunt and cause harm in dreams.

Fans Have Been Comparing Black Phone 2 To A Nightmare On Elm Street, Too

Given that A Nightmare on Elm Street is thought of as one of the best horror movies of all time, it’s certainly a compliment for Mason Thames to compare the movie’s villain to the franchise. I mean, we’re still thinking about all of Freddy Kreuger’s gruesome kills even though the film series has been without a new entry since 2010.

But Thames comments echo what fans have been saying about Black Phone 2 since the latest trailer dropped on YouTube last week. Check out some of the top comments:

• “They turned Black Phone 2 into an 80s supernatural slasher like Nightmare on Elm Street and I'm all for it.” - @XMen-m1t
• “Freddy Krueger: I'm so proud of you, son... The Grabber: TY, dad…” - @nightponyinrface6009
• “I know many of us compared it to Nightmare on Elm Street after the first trailer, but....this REALLY elevates that, especially with the dreams, and the people getting thrown around, but then the people who are awake seeing no one. It really reminds me of the first death in the first NOES. I'm so hyped for this!!” - @h20delorian
• “Hey, if we can't get another Nightmare on Elm Street, I'll take this instead” - @SelfDescribedNerd

The Black Phone is based on a 2004 short story by Joe Hill, who is the son of Stephen King. Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill wrote the script for the movie adaptation, which earned $161.4 million worldwide against the modest budget of around $17 million. The second movie is based on an idea Joe Hill pitched to Derrickson and adapted by the same script team of the original. You can see it in theaters on October 17.