Director/co-writer Scott Derrickson has publicly credited The Black Phone author Joe Hill with sparking the idea for Black Phone 2, but he remained tight-lipped as to what exactly the concept entailed.

In his audio commentary that accompanies the sequel on home video, Derrickson opens up about how a reveal that recontextualizes the original film drew him to the sequel.

“The first film was very successful, and people immediately wanted me to make a sequel. The studio called, I think, the Monday after the box office weekend. The opening numbers came...