Don’t Breathe 2 is a 2021-released American horror-thriller featuring the hard-fighting blind man first seen in the 2016 home invasion hit.
Directed and co-written by Rodo Sayagues – making his directorial debut; he previously co-wrote Don’t Breathe with Fede Alverez, who co-scripted this sequel.
The movie stars Stephen Lang, Rocci Williams, Stephanie Arcila, Bobby Schofield, Diana Babnicova and Adam Young.
Plot:
The blind man (Stephen Lang) has been hiding out for years in an isolated cabin and has taken in and raised a young girl orphaned from a house fire. However, their quiet life is shattered when a group of kidnappers takes the girl, forcing the man to leave their once safe haven to save her.
Reviews:
“Don’t Breathe 2 expands the world a bit, upping the ante on the action and body count, offering more inventive and impressive set-pieces in the process. The downside is that this sequel doesn’t manage to inject or sustain the same taut, nail-biting tension levels that made its predecessor stand out. Between the gore, the conclusion, and Grace’s breakthrough performance, though, the sequel does bring some eye-gouging fun.” Bloody Disgusting
“Don’t Breathe 2 is a harrowing character study and a bloody good time. Fans of the original will love plumbing the depth of the Blind Man’s dark soul while rooting for young Phoenix (Madelyn Grace) to become her own hero.” Dread Central
“The film’s “everyone is awful” emo worldview would perhaps be more forgivable, or at least tolerable if the film was at least base-level competent. But it’s remarkably, tiresomely suspense-free and while Alvarez soaked the original in a pungently grim, hard-to-shake atmosphere, Sayagues struggles to make his film linger […] Lang is an effectively imposing physical presence but his character remains a problem the film isn’t able to fix.” The Guardian
“Stephen Lang returns as The Blind Man in Don’t Breathe 2, and his physical and emotional endurance keeps things interesting. However, the movie’s full of clunky dialogue, underdeveloped characters, and unbelievable scenarios. When all is said and done, Lang’s performance just can’t save the follow-up from the trappings of horror sequel mediocrity.” IGN
“Unlike its predecessor, Don’t Breathe 2 is thankfully devoid of sexual violence, and while the reminder of Norman’s horrific backstory might feel necessary, it only scans as awkward in what is supposed to be a humanizing moment for the guy we’ve been rooting for all along. Some bad guys can change, it seems, but Don’t Breathe 2 needs to remember when it’s time to give the real oxygen.” IndieWire
“The filmmakers do an effective job of briefly teasing and misleading us as to what its bad guys are up to, and once they pay it off, they try maybe one time too many to one-up themselves. For the most part, though, Don’t Breathe 2 successfully carries on the gruesome imagination and decrepit, unsettling mood that hooked audiences the first time around.” Rue Morgue
” …one reason the movie, for all the operatic (and often absurd) grisliness of its second half, isn’t quite as good as the original is that the original didn’t have a trace of that franchise self-consciousness. In this one, you can feel Stephen Lang’s Nordstrom being elevated to a “mythological” level. (There’s even a post-credits teaser.) He gets beaten up, beaten down, though never beaten to the punch.” Variety
Background:
During a chat with THR Stephen Lang discussed the sequel: “I never walked away from a scene on this feeling like we’d left something on the table there. We really strived to get everything we could out of it,” said Lang. “It has a tremendous kinship with the first film, but in many ways — in every way — it’s very much its own thing.”
We kind of debate and negotiate and massage every word, every phrase, every grunt,” Lang added. “We all have a ball doing it because we enjoy working together. On the day-to-day life on set, I had a lot of input into it.
Release date:
In the USA, Don’t Breathe 2 was released theatrically on August 13, 2021. It was released the day before in Germany, Portugal and Slovakia.
Filming locations:
Belgrade, Serbia
Detroit, Michigan
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