Stephen Lang returns as the blind man who doesn’t take shit from anyone, especially not a group of thugs trying to kidnap his daughter. The movie takes place 8 years after the first one. The script has been flipped to where the blind Norman Nordstrom character is more of a protagonist than a villain.

A few years prior to the story starting, Norman essentially kidnapped a young girl, Phoenix (Madelyn Grace), after her mother supposedly died and her house burned down. Her father (Brendan Sexton III) wants her back for a pretty messed up reason, which I will not spoil here.

When the father and his thugs come to get her back, Norman goes into protection mode. This mode involves lots of blood. As Phoenix, whose real name is Tara, starts to learn the truth about her past, she goes willingly into the loving arms of her demented father. Since Norman takes his duties as surrogate father to Phoenix/Tara seriously, he stops at nothing to try to get her back.

I think this movie was a great attempt at taking the first movie and elevating it to something different. I don’t think it was nearly as successful at maintaining the thrilling horror momentum that the original did so well. Even so, I can appreciate that the filmmakers didn’t just redo what already came before.

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