Of all the horror-tinged sleeper hits to emerge over the past two-to-three years (see: It, Get Out, Split, Happy Death Day), Don’t Breathe was the last one we expected to be earmarked for the sequel treatment.
Take nothing away from Fede Alvarez’s taut, water-tight thriller; it’s just the story of three obnoxious teens infiltrating the home of a blind war veteran, only to uncover his dark and murky past, doesn’t exactly lend itself to a sequel. And that’s before we even factor the director’s busy schedule into the equation, given Alvarez has come attached to The Girl in the Spider’s Web and a new Labyrinth movie.
Nevertheless, the filmmaker has no intention of leaving horror behind, and during a recent interview with Screen Rant, lead star Stephen Lang (Avatar) reaffirmed plans for a Don’t Breathe 2, saying: “Oh, yeah – we’re doing a sequel.” That settles that, then.
And though you’d be forgiven for calling the necessity of Don’t Breathe 2 into question, Alvarez is keen to create a sequel that defies all expectations. As a matter of fact, producer Sam Raimi firmly believes that the concept behind Alvarez’s follow-up is “only the greatest idea for a sequel I’ve ever heard. I’m not kidding.” Where do we sign up?
Should Stephen Lang return as the vengeful blind man, he’ll have to carve out room on his own schedule, given he’s signed up to play the villain in James Cameron’s Avatar sequels – and that’s despite the fact that he was left for dead in the 2009 original.
For Don’t Breathe 2, little is currently known about what Fede Alvarez has planned for his horror continuation, but if it’s anything like its predecessor, we could be staring down the face of another global hit.