Arriving in theaters last summer, Scott Derrickson’s The Black Phone was a bona fide hit. A positive response from critics pre-release was followed by great success at the box office, and the film was a big win for the horror genre. Time will tell if we eventually get to see an official big screen sequel to the movie – but for now, fans will be excited to know that an in-world follow-up is on the way this week as part of the new streaming feature V/H/S/85.
Scott Derrickson has helmed one of the five segments in the new horror anthology film (that count including the wraparound story), and he has confirmed that the work shares a continuity with his most recent work. I spoke with the writer/director earlier today, and while discussing his influences for the short, he explained that there is not only a common canon, but that there is a familial link between characters in both stories. Said Derrickson,
In terms of influences, The Black Phone is the biggest influence because it literally takes place in the same cinematic world –as there’s a specific mention of Gwen, the dreamer from Black Phone, and Gunther is her cousin. And so I like the idea of being able to take this idea of prophetic dreaming which is represented visually through Super 8 cinema and tie that in as well. Those were all sort of the major things that were starting points for me.
Co-written by the director and C. Robert Cargill, the segment is titled “Dreamkill” and Gunther is played by Dashiell Derrickson (Scott Derrickson’s son). Set in 1985 a.k.a. seven years after the events in The Black Phone, the story centers on a hunt for a psychotic serial killer whose atrocities are somehow being recorded on VHS tapes and sent to the police weeks prior to them being committed. Gunther is the son of the precinct’s forensic videographer (James Ransone), and he’s brought into questioning when it’s discovered that he is the one who has been mailing the precognitive evidence.
I won’t say anything more about “Dreamkill” in order to protect surprises, but I will note that there is a specific scene that creates a link between it and The Black Phone.
Following up, I asked if Scott Derrickson reached out to author Joe Hill, who wrote the short story on which The Black Phone is based, but it turns out that he didn’t make a point of asking anybody for permission:
No, I just stuck it in. I didn’t ask anybody.
Dating back to 2012, the V/H/S franchise has seen contributions from some of the best filmmakers in modern horror (talent including David Bruckner, Adam Wingard, Ti West, Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, and the team collectively known as Radio Silence), and Scott Derrickson is a new addition to the club. The movie offered him the opportunity to work with both of his sons (in addition to Dashiell playing Gunther, Atticus Derrickson composed the score for key scenes), and the filmmaker saw the project as a chance to experiment with the found footage medium. Said Derrickson,
When I was asked to do one, I knew that I would only do it if I could come up with a way to expand found footage mythology, and I didn’t want to break found footage rules, but I wanted to expand and bend them. Which I think I did. I wanted to find a way to play with cinematic imagery and storytelling so that you’re technically still within the realm of found footage material, but you’re doing something new at the same time.
V/H/S/85 is one of the best installments of the anthology franchise thus far, with “Dreamkill” being a big part of the reason why. If you’re curious about the Black Phone follow-up, you’ll be able to watch it this Friday, October 6, exclusively with a Shudder subscription. The movie also includes segments from David Bruckner, Natasha Kermani, Mike P. Nelson, and Gigi Saul Guerrero.