As evidenced by 2012’s “Sinister” and 2021’s “The Black Phone,” director Scott Derrickson has a gift for blending realism with the supernatural — and for conjuring a sense of dread.

That gift is on display in the sequel to the latter, “Black Phone 2.”

“Black Phone 2” is set four years after the events of its predecessor, which earned more than $160 million at the worldwide box office and has scored myriad fans since it landed on Peacock. The follow-up sees franchise villain the Grabber (Ethan Hawke) out to exact revenge on his slayer, the now-17-year-old Finney (Mason Thames), from, well, hell. It’s silly-but-standard-enough horror-movie stuff, and Derrickson and his filmmaking collaborators sell it well.

For a while.

That palpable dread — earned from myriad effective filmmaking elemen

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