phancy.com - horror reviews - MOH 2021

Don't Breathe 2



IMDb Info

Release Year: 2021
Runtime: 1h 38min
Country: USA, Serbia
Language: English
Genre Tags: Horror, Thriller
Plot Summary: The sequel is set in the years following the initial deadly home invasion, where Norman Nordstrom (Stephen Lang) lives in quiet solace until his past sins catch up to him.

Poster - Title Card


phancy.com rating:

phancy.com notes: Almost as tight as the original, but just as crazy and mean. A smart move to make the girl the main protaganist, since giving Stephen Lang's character a redemptive arc is distasteful, given he was abhorrant in the first movie. Still, they pit him against other monsters, so everyone gets what they deserve, which is satisfying in a misanthropic sort of way.


Outside Reviews:

Christy Lemire
2.5 out of 4 stars - rogerebert.com

They couldn't just remake Don't Breathe. That would be no fun and a waste of everyone's abilities. Instead, they take Lang's Norman Nordstrom and provide him with a reason to leave the house. The results are nuttier and more savage but never as tense or tight. And it's harder to root for him to succeed in taking down his invaders, knowing what we know from the first film about his brutal past. Still, there's some style on display here, including one impressive, long tracking shot through Norman's house at the start of the break-in; glimmers of that kind of complicated choreography and camerawork emerge elsewhere, but this sequence is the highlight. And with his shock of white hair and sinewy frame, Lang always provides a formidable presence, achieving an air of menace through little more than growls and his physical steeliness.


Jesse Hassenger
Grade: B- - Don't Breathe 2 goes full T2, turning a memorable monster into some kind of hero

Here is where returning screenwriters Rodo Sayagues and Fede Álvarez observe what seems to be a cardinal rule of the Don't Breathe series: If the situation appears patently ridiculous at the outset, a more memorably ridiculous explanation will soon follow. Raylan and his crew are scumbags, yes. But the movie playfully circumvents its own signposts and, in the tradition of the original, eventually comes up with a weirder backstory than expected. At times, Don't Breathe 2 assumes the ghoulishness of a Grimm (and grim) fairy tale, the darkness mitigating attempts to rehab Norman into a vengeful anti-hero.