By Blumhouse Films’ Blumfest returned yet again to NYCC this year and brought crowd-pleasing sequels as their Black Phone and Five Nights at Freddy’s franchises take off.
Black Phone 2 brought new footage ahead of the film’s opening next week on 10/17. Returning stars Ethan Hawke, Madeleine McGraw, Mason Thames, and Miguel Mora were on hand with producer Jason Blum, as well as the new addition, Oscar Nominee Demian Bichir. Black Phone 2 takes a deeper dive into the supernatural, entering Freddy Krueger’s dream territory while also taking place at camp in the 80s, albeit during the dead of winter.
Following on the heels of the first film’s success, Scott Derrickson returns to direct the sequel, showing yet again why Marvel perhaps should have bowed to his “creative differences” on the Doctor Strange sequel. Derrickson knows how to bring the kind of terror that gets underneath your skin and stays with you.
While not every film has been a critical success, Blumhouse has a real knack for fostering creative talent that brings a new perspective to tried and true horror tropes. With Black Phone 2, not only has Blumhouse created a successful franchise, but they’ve also ushered in the creation of a new, iconic film villain in The Grabber. It’s no small feat joining the pantheon of horror great predators, but Blumhouse, Derrickson, and their cast seem to have managed to stick the landing more than once.
In addition to Black Phone 2, Blumfest brought us director Emma Tammi, returning to direct the Five Nights at Freddy’s sequel. With this second film, director Tammi enters rarefied air as a woman helming a horror franchise. Emma was joined on stage by Elizabeth Lail and fan favorite Matthew Lillard to announce voice casting for the toy animatronics in the sequel: Megan Fox as Toy Chica, MatPat as Toy Bonnie, and Kellen Goff, who has voiced previous Freddys, as Toy Freddy. We also got a glimpse of the poster for the sequel to be released December 5th in theaters.
