Stephen Lang has built up a solid body of work as a grizzled character actor who typically tends to be cast in villainous roles, but upcoming horror sequel Don’t Breathe 2 is promising to reinvent the premise of the smash hit original by turning his Norman Nordstrom into an antihero of sorts.
The Evil Dead remake’s Fede Alvarez helmed the 2016 sleeper hit, which received solid reviews from critics and went on to earn over $157 million at the box office on a budget of less than $10 million. The pitch was simple, in that a gang of home invaders got a whole lot more than they bargained for when trying to rob its terrifying sole resident, but Alvarez still managed to wring every drop of nail-biting tension out of it.
He might not be directing the sequel himself, but he remains on board as co-writer and producer, with his protege Rodo Sayagues making his feature directorial debut. Sayagues wrote The Evil Dead remake and Don’t Breathe, so the second installment in the nascent franchise appears to be in good hands.
Don’t Breathe 2 is currently scheduled for release in August, and in a new interview, Alvarez confirmed that the movie is locked, loaded and ready to go, while teasing that it’s definitely going to live up to the expectations.
“Don’t Breathe 2 is done already. I watched it not too long ago and it’s fantastic. So I just really can’t wait for you guys to see it.”
The sequel catches up with Lang’s Nordstrom years later as he’s living in an isolated cabin, where he’s also become a father figure to a young girl he took in after she lost her parents in a fire. Kidnappers end up snatching the kid, though, and based on how the first film played out, it would be safe to assume that the bad guys of Don’t Breathe 2 are going to get their bloody comeuppance.
