With ‘Don’t Breathe’, after his great ‘Evil Dead’, director Fede Alvarez was able to prove once again that he is one of the most interesting genre filmmakers working today. “Don’t Breathe” is characterized by a sweaty concept of tension that takes the audience’s breath away for less than 90 minutes. Another reason why “Don’t Breathe” turned out so well: “Avatar” villain Stephen Lang as a blind war veteran who doesn’t like his house being broken into.
“Don’t Breathe 2,” a direct sequel to Fede Alvarez’s celebrated nail-biter, was released relatively unnoticed in September 2021. The twist here: Stephen Lang was suddenly no longer the perverted villain, but the (anti)hero! You have to be there first – and as a viewer you also need a brief moment to absorb this change in direction. But if you’re into it, you get action-revenge horror of a harder kind – the FSK 18 rating is no coincidence.
Haven’t seen “Don’t Breathe 2” yet? Then you have to be there, because the film can only be seen on Netflix until December 24, 2023.
That’s what ‘Don’t Breathe 2’ is about
Years after the disturbing burglary of his home, blind Norman (Stephen Lang) is living a peaceful life again. He now even cares with fatherly affection (and strictness) for a young girl named Phoenix (Madelyn Grace), whom he once gave a new home after a serious tragedy. But it doesn’t take long before the idyll comes to an abrupt end:
A gang of unknown people chases the girl, kidnaps her without further ado and causes the blind man’s house to go up in flames. Of course, the war veteran doesn’t want that to happen. To free his protégé from the clutches of his captors in an unknown environment, he must once again rely on his other senses and instincts – and make short work of his opponents.
Brutier, but not better
In the official FILMSTARTS review, “Don’t Breathe 2” received a solid 3 out of 5 possible stars. In his conclusion, our editor-in-chief Christoph Petersen writes the following:
“The first ‘Don’t Breathe’ is something very special – and in ‘Don’t Breathe 2’ the fear that something like this cannot be repeated so easily has become reality. Nevertheless, unlike its FSK-16 predecessor, the sequel, which is rightly only being released for those 18 and older, delivers solid craftsmanship and, in places, some pretty twisted revenge, with Stephen Lang once again dominating the screen.
So even though “Don’t Breathe 2” still uses horror elements, Rodolfo Sayagues’ sequel is a gritty revenge in which the blind man no longer appears as a superhuman killer in the style of Michael Myers, but rather dominates the film. with his sheer physical presence. However, the mysterious side of the character is simply swept under the rug, which can be considered quite questionable.
Yet “Don’t Breathe 2” still works damn well as a genre thriller, thanks to Stephen Lang’s charisma and gritty action. While the predecessor received more than sufficient FSK 16 approval, In part 2 you can sometimes get really juicy with the leather – including a bell that Lang brutally rams into the throat of one of his opponents…