The Black Phone

On the data. Two films, a short story, and one entry that is genuinely hidden. THE THING TO KNOW. Dreamkill, a segment in the 2023 Shudder anthology V/H/S/85, is a Black Phone story. It has no Black Phone branding, it was not made by Blumhouse, and the connection was only spelled out by Scott Derrickson around the release of Black Phone 2 two years later. Derrickson has said the sister of the boy in it is Gwen's mother, and that Gunther Blake is Gwen's cousin, so it is the same psychic bloodline. The Grabber is not in it. STORY ORDER IS NOT RELEASE ORDER, and this is the only reason this page needs a guide at all. The first film is set in 1978, the second in 1982, and Dreamkill in 1985. Release order puts Dreamkill in the middle. Story order puts it last. THE BOOK IS A MESS OF DATES. The story was first published in a magazine called The Third Alternative in 2004. It appeared in the collection 20th Century Ghosts in Britain in 2005 and in America in 2007, and the same collection was reissued in 2021 as The Black Phone: Stories to match the film. Four plausible years for one piece of writing. The page lists the collection once, at 2005. DERRICKSON DID NOT WANT TO MAKE A SEQUEL. He changed his mind after a phone call from Joe Hill. Black Phone 2 is an original story rather than an adaptation, which is unusual for a sequel to a book adaptation. A THIRD FILM IS NOT COMING, as far as anyone has said. Cargill in October 2025: there are no ideas, and everything was left on the table for the second one. Nothing is dated, so nothing is listed.

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