DON’T BREATHE 2

RELEASED OUT NOW! 18 | 98 minutes

Director Rodo Sayagues

Cast Stephen Lang, Madelyn Grace, Brendan Sexton III, Rocci William

Fede Álvarez’s Don’t Breathe was an effective horror thriller that brought plenty of suspense in its story of a blind veteran who fights off intruders – and was different in that it made you root for the criminals over the apparent victim, Stephan Lang’s Norman Nordstrom, who turned out to have an even darker agenda.

The sequel follows some similar beats (and beatings, albeit with more gore this time) but twists itself into knots trying to instead make Norman sympathetic. He’s raising a daughter (Phoenix, played by Madelyn Grace) to be a survivor, and of course, he lives in another rundown house. When more home intruders show up, he springs (well, creeps) into action.

Rodo Sayagues, co-writer of the original, steps up to direct here, but while Don’t Breathe 2 has a couple of effective moments and more whispery menace from Lang, it falters when it descends first into unsuspected territory and then utter stupidity as character after character makes ridiculous horror movie mistakes in the service of tension. Coincidences pile on top of faux surprises like falling corpses, and after the fifth fake-out, you’ll have probably stopped caring.

The sequel scores points for trying something, but it really doesn’t pull it off, leaving little besides a bad taste.

James White