By MICHAEL GINGOLD
While discussing his new Apple TV+ series CALLS with RUE MORGUE (see that interview here), Fede Alvarez gave us some words about DON’T BREATHE 2, the upcoming sequel to his 2016 horror hit.
Currently set for release August 13 by Sony Pictures/Screen Gems, DON’T BREATHE 2 once again stars Stephen Lang as The Blind Man; according to the official synopsis, “The Blind Man has been hiding out for several years in an isolated cabin and has taken in and raised a young girl orphaned from a devastating house fire. Their quiet life together is shattered when a group of criminals kidnap the girl, forcing the Blind Man to leave his safe haven to save her.” It sounds like he’s got a more heroic role here than in the original, in which he terrorizes a group of young people who attempt to rob his house, and Alvarez tells us, “Well, it will be up to you to decide if he’s a hero or not. He definitely has a different role than in the first movie. He’s still the same character, but we are definitely going for something pretty special and unique when it comes to sequels. Me and my co-writer, Rodo Sayagues [who also directed this time] are not interested in repeating the same thing. You’re always lucky when you make a movie that people want to see a sequel to, but there’s something about them, particularly in this genre, that can be like, ‘Let’s just give them the same thing again, with different characters.’ We did not want to do that, so we took a quite radical approach to the storytelling.
“I’m pretty sure it’s not what people expect, but I think it’s what people need [laughs], the way I see it,” Alvarez continues. “It’s quite different on many levels, but I think the audience will be happily surprised by it, and I’m glad we did it. It’s a very special sequel.” We’ll bring you more coverage of DON’T BREATHE 2 as it nears release!
