DON’T BREATHE 2

The direct sequel to DON’T BREATHE. Some time after the incident in the first film, a house is on fire and a little girl escapes but eventually lying unconscious on the street.

Eight years later, a new character is introduced as a young girl named Phoenix (Madelyn Grace), daughter of Norman Nordstrom (Stephen Lang) whom Norman teaches her some kind of military skill. When Phoenix asks about her mother, Norman only replies that her mother died in a fire in their old house, and Phoenix is the only one he could save. I only wonder if the girl lost her memory because she was not a baby when Norman took her.

Hernandez (Stephanie Arcila), a former US Army Ranger now run Lake Park, a shop selling ferns and plant. She regularly receives orders and picks up plant from Norman’s garden and becomes Norman’s only friend. Sometimes Norman allows Phoenix to accompany her on an errand in town. Today Hernandez takes Phoenix to her old house but she immediately leaves when she hears strange noises.

News flash on television reporting that police have issued statewide alert for Dr. Thomas Hanniman (Steffan Rhodri) who’s believed to be running an organ trafficking ring in Detroit area, foreshadowing what would happen next. A strange man tries to abduct Phoenix from public restroom but Shadaw, Norman’s Rottweiler scares him away.

The gang follow Hernandez’s van to drop Phoenix at Norman’s house then kill her when she leaves. They also kill Shadaw and sneak into the house in an attempt to kidnap Phoenix.

It is revealed that Raylan (Brendan Sexton III), the gang leader is in fact Phoenix’s real father who had been in jail for eight years because of his meth lab that burned down the entire house. Now he wants his daughter back. But the twist doesn’t end here, it’s just getting weirder and much darker.

What makes that first film so captivating is because the world-building around Norman Nordstrom is logical and realistic. We believe that even though he is blind but his house is his domain so he knows everything inside out which is his advantage over the intruders.

Now the writers, Fede Alvarez (also the director of the first film) and Rodo Sayagues want to expand Norman’s limit by giving him a reason to leave his house. It’s just unbelievable that he can travel by foot guiding by a dog in time to catch up with the gang in their house. Not to mention how easily he manages to find circuit breaker in a big house he has never visited.

We don’t know which side we should root for. We know that Norman took a child and raised as his own daughter but we also know from the first film that he definitely isn’t a good guy. Or we should root for the real dad who used to run meth lab in his house and caused the fire that destroyed everything? I root for dogs. Sadly, one of them is dead.

The film is full of blood, gore and brutality, probably more than the first one, including an unnecessary death of Hernandez. The camerawork is impressive with incredible lighting especially the long shot inside Norman’s house.

DON’T BREATHE 2 was theatrically released in the United States on August 13, 2021, then released as Video On Demand on September 3, 2021.