"He's going to come for me."
"It’s not me you need to be scared of, little girl, but the man standing next to you. Now, I don’t know who he is. But I know who he’s not. Should I tell her, or you?"
— Raylan
Don't Breathe 2 is a 2021 American action horror thriller film directed by Rodo Sayagues. It is a sequel to Don't Breathe and has Stephen Lang reprising his role as The Blind Man.
The Blind Man has spent eight years raising an orphaned girl as his own. When a group of crooks try to abduct her, it's up to our favorite blind psychopath to protect her, but there's more going on in this abduction than meets the eye.
Previews: Trailer
, Dark AF Restricted Trailer.
Don't Breathe 2 contains examples of:
- Advertising by Association: "From producer Fede Alvarez, director of Evil Dead (2013) and Don't Breathe."
- All There in the Stinger: The Blind Man has a Finger-Twitching Revival that opens the door for his return in a future film.
- Angry Guard Dog: The Blind Man's rottweiler Shadow is this in a nutshell. Raylan has one of his own.
- Artistic License – Martial Arts: For a Navy SEAL who is demonstrated to be a killing machine with his bare hands, it's surprising that the Blind Man doesn't know how to apply a rear-naked choke. He gets a crook in a choke-hold with one arm but doesn't secure it with his other arm. Consequently, the crook simply peels the Blind Man's arm away and escapes.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Just in case you missed his earlier indications, Raylan reminds you that he's a heel when he callously writes off his dog's life and burns down the house with the dog inside. Later, he shoots at the dog for being a "traitor," causing the dog to turn on him. This is in contrast to our morally dubious Anti-Hero, who can't bring himself to harm a dog even when his daughter's life is on the line.
- Bait the Dog: At first, it appears that Raylan wanted to rescue Phoenix because he wanted to be reunited with his daughter. Turns out, he wants her so that he can use her heart to save his wife (Phoenix's biological mother) and isn't at all concerned with Phoenix's wellbeing.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Phoenix's mother Josephine at first appears to be happy to see her daughter again. Turns out the only reason she's so happy is because Phoenix is the only compatible organ donor they can find so that they can take her heart and give it to the terminally ill Josephine.
- Bloodier and Gorier: The first film only had three deaths, and most of the violence was subdued. This movie is as violent as an exploitation film, and features people dying throughout.
- Call-Back: Like Alex from the previous movie, the Blind Man jumps out of a window and immediately finds himself on a panel of breaking glass.
- Danger Takes A Back Seat: Raylan and Raul block off the road in front of Hernandez, but after she gets out and confronts them, they move aside. After getting back into her car, she's ambushed by Jim Bob, who leaps up from the back seat to strangle her with a cord and bludgeon her to death with a claw hammer.
- From Camouflage to Criminal: Raylan and some of his croneys are dishonorably discharged veterans who have become criminals.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- Jim Bob cares for his brother Jared and becomes revenge-driven against The Blind Man once he smashes Jared's skull with a shovel.
- Raylan, the leader of the thugs, has his wife Josephine, and the only reason he looks for Phoenix (who is their biological daughter) is so they can take her heart and give it to Josephine since she is terminally ill.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Raul expresses concern when Raylan plans to burn the house down with the dog inside, and later is the only one to take issue with the surgery to remove Phoenix’s heart. He ends up warning The Blind Man and is the only one of the gang left alive at the end.
- Evil Versus Evil: The Blind Man has stolen a child from her real parents, and he did all those horrible things in the first film. He's matched against a gang of meth dealers who want to kill a child to save their cook.
- Eye Scream: The Blind Man tries to kill Raylan by gouging out his eyes.
- Finger-Twitching Revival: The Blind Man is shown starting one in The Stinger.
- Foreshadowing: A TV broadcast tells about an organ trafficker on the loose. Phoenix's biological father is a drug lord who employs that very organ trafficker to give Phoenix's heart to his dying wife, Josephine.
- Guns Are Useless: Most action scenes play out in such a way that no one is able to simply point their gun at the Blind Man and shoot him. He's always hidden, behind cover, or has rigged a trap to make it too dangerous to shoot.
- Heel–Face Turn: The Blind Man was the villain of the first film, but in this film he becomes a Villain Protagonist, though still A Lighter Shade of Black than the antagonists.
- Impromptu Tracheotomy: A variation. When the Blind Man superglues a crook's mouth and nose shut, the crook's brother punches a hole in the man's cheek to provide an air hole.
- Kick the Dog: Raylan and his gang murder Hernandez to confirm that they're just as evil as they seem.
- Laser-Guided Karma: The gang only rescued Phoenix so that they could kill her and use her heart to save Josephine. She ends up bleeding to death after accidentally being shot by her husband while he was fighting the Blind Man.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: The Blind Man ultimately proves to be this to Phoenix's real father, who is ultimately only interested in saving his wife, even if it means killing his daughter to do so.
- Meaningful Name: Phoenix is so named because she was discovered escaping from a fire, so she rose from the ashes to a new life. The Blind Man may also have seen Phoenix imagery in the way she's his second chance at a daughter after his first one's death.
- Meaningful Rename: In the end, Phoenix states that her name is Phoenix, having rejected the name Tara given to her by her birth parents to embrace her identity as the Blind Man's daughter.
- Not Quite Dead: The Stinger reveals that the Blind Man might not be dead. Don't Breathe 3, anyone?
- The Oner: A big one occurs when the gang first breaks into the house, where the camera follows Phoenix as she deftly evades the invaders as they search for her for several minutes.
- Papa Wolf: We saw the horrible things the Blind Man was willing to do to get a daughter. Now imagine what he'd do to someone who threatened his daughter!
- Pet the Dog: The Blind Man can't bring himself to kill the gang's Angry Guard Dog even as it attacks him, so he instead traps it behind a mattress frame instead. When Raylan sets fire to the house, assuming the Blind Man probably killed the dog, the Blind Man risks his life to save it, and it appears to bond with him in response.
- Playing Possum: The Blind Man lies in a shallow pool of water and plays dead to get the drop on some crooks, who luckily don't just shoot him where they stand to make sure.
- Plot Armor: The Blind Man benefits quite a lot from it throughout the film. Most notably is the scene where he manages to sit up, pull a gun and shoot three people who were already approaching him with their guns drawn.
- Properly Paranoid: The Blind Man has about as paranoid an outlook on childrearing as you'd expect from a psychopath who lost his first family. He trains her in survival techniques, has a panic room, and stores weapons throughout the house.
- Redemption Equals Death: The Blind Man did some unforgiveable things in the first film, and in this film he graduates to the hero role, so the only way he can complete his arc is to admit his wrongdoings and nobly sacrifice his life. However, The Stinger shows he may still be alive.
- Red Herring: Subverted. A news story establishes that an organ harvester is on the loose, and Raylan starts sniffing around Phoenix while keeping a cooler conspicuously stored in his truck bed. But then it turns out that he's actually her father, and his cooler is filled with molotov cocktails, not stolen organs. But then it's revealed that he actually is in league with the organ harvester and wants to steal her heart to give to his wife.
- Rule of Cool: When the Blind Man shuts off the power and lurks in the shadows, he waits until the power is back on and just stands in a menacing pose for a moment before striking. There's no real reason for him to do this except that it's cool to watch.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Hernandez, who's presented as having gotten to know the Blind Man and Phoenix over the past few years, with the Blind Man even trusting her enough to take Phoenix out on an excursion despite being fiercely protective of her. After dropping Phoenix back at home, she's confronted by Raylan's gang, who introduce themselves and kill her before proceeding to the house.
- Serial Escalation: The first film was the Blind Man versus three teenage burglars. In the sequel, it's the Blind Man versus a gang of ex-soldiers.
- The Stinger: The gang's dog finds the Blind Man, whose fingers twitch, indicating he may be Not Quite Dead.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The Blind Man gouges Raylan's eyes with his thumbs. Turns out, targeting the eyes isn't the quickest way to kill. When the Blind Man walks to Phoenix, Raylan is still alive and stabs him in the back, despite his eyes being ruined.
- Took a Level in Badass: In the first film, the Blind Man couldn't quite handle all three teenage house burglars. In this film, he takes down seasoned ex-soldiers. True, he's got more to fight for this time.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Becoming a father again has restored some of the Blind Man's humanity. He even admits all his crimes to her at the end and encourages her to run away and find a new life for herself.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Four armed crooks find the Blind Man prone in the middle of a room, apparently dead. Rather than just plug him a few times from a distance to make sure, they cautiously approach him.
- The Worf Effect: In the first movie, the Blind Man's dog, Shadow, was able to give the burglars a lot of trouble and survived the entire ordeal. Here, Shadow dies very early and ends up as the ex-soldiers' second kill.
