Scott Derrickson reveals how The Shining inspired Black Phone 2

2 June 2025

Director Scott Derrickson has revealed the setting for ‘The Shining’ directly inspired his upcoming film ‘Black Phone 2’.

Finn and The Grabber in Black Phone 2

The 58-year-old filmmaker is bringing back child adductor The Grabber – played by Ethan Hawke – following the success of his 2022 supernatural horror, which was based on the characters featured in Joe Hill’s collection of short stories ’20th Century Ghosts’.

The sequel is partly set at a place known as Alpine Lake Youth Camp and that wintery setting in the Rocky Mountains is the same location as The Overlook Hotel that sends Jack Torrance mad in Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror classic which is based on Stephen King’s book of the same name.

Derrickson also wanted to acknowledge the tradition of school camp horror films – the most popular franchise being ‘Friday the 13th’ which is set at Camp Crystal Lake summer camp.

In an interview with Collider, Derrickson said: “I really like to use weather as a character if I have an opportunity to do it, so the winter, Rocky Mountain camp environment was also an inspiration for me to say yes to doing the movie. Of course, you’ve got ‘The Shining’ that you’re drawing on because that was The Overlook Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, where they filmed the exterior of that.

“And, of course, you’ve got the little tradition of camp horror, but it’s almost always summer camp. There aren’t a lot of winter camp movies. I went to both as a high school kid, and it was always the winter camps that were more powerful and memorable.”

Derrickson also revealed that he put many of his own school experiences into ‘The Black Phone’ and the sequel – which is set four years after the events of the first film.

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