The following story contains spoilers for both Don’t Breathe and Don’t Breathe 2, so stop reading now if you do not want to know any details about either horror movie.
Over the weekend, audiences headed back to theaters to catch up on the latest exploits of The Blind Man (Stephen Lang), a military veteran with lethal skills who really, really hates it when people break into his home. Don’t Breathe 2 continues the story from Fede Alvarez’s surprise horror hit, but takes The Blind Man, aka Norman, down some wildly unexpected avenues. That shouldn’t shock too many people. The original Don’t Breathe contained a number of memorable twists, including the major one involving a kitchen prop, usually one used at Thanksgiving.
Anyone who watched Don’t Breathe will remember that the twist toward the end of the film is that The Blind Man was using a turkey baster to artificially inseminate women he was kidnapping in a desperate attempt to have another child (somehow replacing the daughter he’d lost in a car accident). The concept of the Blind Man’s plan was so disturbing, it basically ruined turkey basters for audiences around the world. And that’s why the Don’t Breathe 2 team made sure to include the dastardly prop in the sequel.
Don’t Breathe 2 director Rodo Sayagues and producer Fede Alvarez joined CinemaBlend’s official podcast, ReelBlend, to discuss the sequel. And during the conversation, they revealed the secret prop they worked into the background of a scene, telling us:
Rodo Sayagues: The turkey baster is in there, somewhere. It is, it is.Fede Alvarez: You’ve got to spot it. Someone’s going to pause the frame, and it’s super clear. It’s like, ‘Bang!’Sayagues: No, it’s really, really hard to catch.Alvarez: That’s a treasure hunt we’ll send you on.
How disturbing. Don’t Breathe 2 doesn’t have to continue Norman’s deranged plan to force women to carry a baby for him. As we see in the beginning of the sequel, he has found his own “daughter” in the character of Phoenix (Madelyn Grace). Though, her story is what fuels the sequel, and takes the story in demented new directions. Opening up about HOW the turkey baster prop made its way into a scene in Don’t Breathe 2, Rodo Sayagues explained:
We were going to shoot, and someone showed up with that (from) the art department, because they thought, ‘They might want to use this.’ They guessed, ‘Maybe they want to use this?’ So I brought it, and I just grabbed it and went, ‘OK, let me put it somewhere.’ I just walked around on the set and just placed it there.
Now I feel like I need to head back to a theater and watch Don’t Breathe 2, but keeping my eyes on the backgrounds to try and spot the turkey baster from Don’t Breathe. My guess would have to be that it’s in the Blind Man’s house, which is where the first act of the film takes place. The moment that the movie leaves Norman’s house, the reason for the turkey baster being in the film makes less sense.
It makes more sense than Stephen Lang’s idea for Don’t Breathe 2 when he got together with Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues to talk about possible directions for the sequel. As Alvarez recalls to ReelBlend:
Stephen Lang, by the way, remember he pitched this beginning? He wanted to start the movie on Thanksgiving. (Laughs) The idea was dismissed right away, because you can imagine what that first image would be.
You really need to hear the whole conversation with these two, especially to hear the story about the horror movie that deeply affected Fede Alvarez at a young age.
And you can also head to theaters to see Don’t Breathe 2, and see if you can spot the hidden turkey baster, right now. It’s one of a handful of horror films that will be in theaters in the next few weeks, including Candyman, The Night House, Demonic, James Wan’s Malignant, and the return of Michael Myers in October’s Halloween Kills. Bring on the chills!
