The brutal FSK 18 horror actioner “Dont Breathe 2” is now available on Netflix. This is the sequel to the acclaimed genre hit “Don’t Breathe” by Fede Alvarez.
With “Don’t Breathe” director Fede Alvarez was able to prove once again, after his great “Evil Dead”, that he is one of the most interesting genre filmmakers of today. “Don’t Breathe” distinguished itself with a sweaty understanding of suspense that simply took 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 it at all when his house is broken into.
With “Don’t Breathe 2”, a direct sequel to Fede Alvarez’s celebrated nail-biter was released in September 2021, relatively unnoticed. The twist here: Stephen Lang was suddenly no longer the perverted creep, but the (anti-)hero! That’s something you have to get used to – and as a viewer you also need a short moment to swallow this change of direction. But once you’ve accepted it, you’ll be treated to action-revenge horror of the harder kind – the FSK-18 rating is no accident.
You haven’t seen “Don’t Breathe 2” yet? No problem! From now on, the bloody genre thriller is available as a Netflix subscription!
WHAT “DON’T BREATHE 2” IS ABOUT
Years after the upsetting break-in at his home, blind Norman (Stephen Lang) leads a quiet life again. In the meantime, he even cares for a young girl named Phoenix (Madelyn Grace), whom he once gave a new home after a severe tragedy, with fatherly affection (and severity). But it is not long before the idyll comes to an abrupt end:
A gang of strangers has it in for the girl, kidnaps her without further ado and sets the blind man’s house ablaze. Of course, the war veteran doesn’t want to take this lying down. In order to free his protégé from the clutches of the kidappers in an unfamiliar environment, he must once again rely on his other senses and instincts – and make short work of his opponents.
BRUTAL, 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 as follows:
“The first ‘Don’t Breathe’ is something very special – and in fact ‘Don’t Breathe 2’ proves the fear that such a thing cannot be repeated so easily. Nevertheless, in contrast to its FSK-16 predecessor, the sequel, which is rightly only released from the age of 18, delivers solidly crafted and, in places, pretty fucked-up revenge action with Stephen Lang once again dominating the screen. “
So, even though Don’t Breathe 2 still makes use of horror elements, Rodolfo Sayagues’ sequel is a crude revenge actioner 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. The abysmal sides of the character are simply swept under the carpet, however, which can be considered quite questionable.
Nevertheless, “Don’t Breathe 2” still works damn well as a genre thriller, which is due to Stephen Lang’s charisma and the heavy action. While the predecessor got away with a more than appropriate FSK-16 rating, in part 2 there’s some really juicy action – including a small bell that Lang brutally rams down the throat of one of his opponents…
