Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Netflix/Getty
The first “Bird Box” broke Netflix streaming records, prompting this sequel that, thankfully, packs more twists and tension than its depressingly mediocre predecessor.
According to Netflix, Sandra Bullock’s thoroughly mediocre 2018 thriller Bird Box (based on the novel by Josh Malerman) was watched by more people in its first 28 days of release than any of its other original films. As baffling as those statistics might be, they’re inarguably the reason for Bird Box Barcelona, which premieres July 14. It’s a spin-off with far fewer stars but the same basic premise, involving a group of men and women trying to navigate a world overrun by invisible entities that compel anyone who sees them to commit suicide.
In most respects, it’s a generic trip through a wasteland of evil creatures and equally malevolent men. Yet thanks to a couple of novel twists, it manages to outpace its predecessor in tension and originality—if not quite reinvigorate the franchise.