Collider has identified a subtle connection between the 2021 horror film The Black Phone and the "Dreamkill" segment of the anthology film V/H/S/85, both directed by Scott Derrickson. Rather than linking the two through a sequel or an explicit reference, the tie is woven quietly into the storytelling, revealing that the psychic abilities central to The Black Phone's plot belong to a wider family lineage that also appears in the anthology segment. This suggests Derrickson has been building a loosely connected universe without drawing attention to it.

In The Black Phone, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) has prophetic dreams that help locate her kidnapped brother Finney and the graves of victims of a masked killer known as the Grabber, a power that has traumatised her family after her late mother experienced the same visions. In "Dreamkill", Detective Wayne Johnson (Freddy Rodríguez) investigates murders shown to him in advance on mysterious VHS tapes, tracing the footage to a teenager named Gunther, whose father reveals that psychic dreaming runs in their family, including a cousin who once dreamed about her kidnapped brother, an apparent nod to Gwen and Finney.