DON’T BREATHE Review — Breathtaking Horror
Staci Layne Wilson’s Don’t Breathe Review will leave you breathless
@StaciWilson
Don’t breathe… he might hear you. And if he can hear you, he can find you. If he finds you, he will kill you.
He is The Blind Man (Stephen Lang), a wounded war vet with scads of cash hidden away in his dilapidated Detroit hovel… and he will stop at nothing to protect what’s his. When three young thieves – Rocky (Jane Levy), Money (Daniel Zovatto), and Alex (Dylan Minnette) – break into The Blind Man’s home while he’s sleeping, they think it’ll be a simple snatch, steal and slip-away. They are so very wrong.
Lang is so fierce and strong in his nearly nonverbal role, it’s easy to see why the sightless ex-soldier is not easily taken down by the three intrepid intruders. Anticipating every possible move, the stealthy storyline keeps the kids trapped inside the labyrinthine fortress with hair-raising yet mostly believable twists and turns. Everything from the layout of his furniture to the fingernail scratches on the hallway walls factors into the story; lean and spare, not a moment is wasted as the camera follows the action like a cat stalks a mouse.
Excellent editing and masterful music punctuate the alternating moments of dread and adrenaline. There was perhaps too much backstory for my taste, but the surprises do keep coming thanks to the striptease of reveals throughout the story. When the lights go out, giving The Blind Man major advantage, cinematographer Pedro Luque presents an interesting alternative to the usual night-vision look, showing us panic to the max while keeping everyone in the dark.
Don’t Breathe is a rarity in horror – more of a throwback to days of yore, it’s a taut, tense game of catch-me-if-you-can that doesn’t rely on CGI, jump-scares, torture, or the gross-out to get under its audience’s tingling skin. (OK, there is one gross-out… and it’s very gross!)
Deftly directed by Fede Alvarez (The Evil Dead remake), Don’t Breathe hits the ground running and never slows to take a breath.
1 hour 28 minutes
Rated R
Get times and tickets at Fandango.com.
Staci Layne Wilson’s Don’t Breathe Review will leave you breathless
This film was absolutely riveting. I was curled up during the entire film. At the end I felt like I had just gotten off a roller-coaster. I was exhausted! This is a don’t-miss film. See it on the big screen.