2016’s Don’t Breathe was an extreme exercise in sensory inspired tension and edge of your seat fear.  For those fortunate enough to have seen it in a theater, there was nothing truly like it.  So it’s no surprise that several years we’re getting the hotly anticipated sequel, which just got an IGN-exclusive trailer!

Villain Becoming the Hero
Initially, the most striking (and interesting) feature of this trailer is that Norman Nordstrom aka “The Blind Man” (Stephen Lang) has the roles reversed and now he’s more the hero than the villain.  We see him helping a young girl with survival training, and he seems to be making friends and living a “mostly” upstanding life.

The trailer shows us that this girl (who probably reminds him of his own deceased daughter) is captured, and now it’s the Blind Man taking the role of the hero to save her and brutally annihilating everyone who stands in his way.

It’s a truly interesting perspective because for most of the first film, he was only framed as the villain because our protagonists were the ones he was terrorizing.  But they were they to burglarize him, so he was merely defending his home.

All that said, we do make that horrific discovery in the third act about his extra-curricular activities involving false imprisonment and forced artificial insemination.  Obviously these are both unforgivable acts, but it does make things interesting that now the roles have reversed, and Nordstrom seems to be the protagonist.

Noticeably absent however Jane Levy, who was the lead in the first film.  Given that Nordstrom wants to move on (as did Levy’s character), it does make sense that they wouldn’t meet again.  The last we saw of her, she and her little sister were traveling somewhere far away for a better life.

Sins of the Past
As the young girl is captured, something that really stands out is one the kidnappers telling her she doesn’t know who Nordstrom really is, or what he’s really done.  We can assume this has something to do with the first film.

Perhaps these kidnappers are related to the woman he held captive, and now they’re out for revenge.  But again, that frames a compelling and complicated dynamic as (much like in the first film) all opposing parties have their own morally gray reasons for their actions.

Stephen Lang did an amazing job portraying the character as brutal, fearsome, but also sympathetic, and it looks like that’s on full display again.  Along with his penchant for ass kicking as well!

Don’t Breath 2 is due out in theaters on August 13, 2021!

What did you think of the trailer?  What do you hope to see in Don’t Breathe 2?  Let us know in the comments!

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