Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Alvarez of Evil Dead fame gives us a tight horror-thriller in Don't Breathe.
Three young Detroit thieves, Rocky (Jane Levy), Alex (Dylan Minnette), and Money (Daniel Zovatto) frequently break into fancy homes for a living. But after realizing that stealing valuables is not as lucrative as they thought, they decide to steal some major cash from an old guy who lives alone (Stephen Lang) in a decrepit house—who turn out to be blind.
But what is supposed to be an easy heist turns out to be just the horrific opposite.
But what is supposed to be an easy heist turns out to be just the horrific opposite.
Blind Man turns out to be a burly ex-military man suffering from a severe case of PTSD, so when the robbers get caught in the act, we are thrown into a stressful and brutal cat-and-mouse chase inside his dark house. Alvarez and cinematographer Pedro Luque's intense and brilliant camerawork, combined with a very neat sound design and effects, magnifies the horror and the tension, sucking you into the dark, suffocating labyrinth inside the house.
The chase is complex; stringing you along a series of close calls and near-escapes that will literally make you hold your breath— until you reach some mildly significant revelations. Also, Blind Man is a monster; white blank orbs for eyes, sniffing and grunting, extremely violent and livid about the home invasion, which makes him a real-life demon. This will naturally make you fear for the young and desperate criminals. Blind Man's assistant, a salivating, murderous rottweiler, is an excitingly dangerous obstacle.
There are some unsettling flaws, though. While breaking into Blind Man's house, the kids are just really, really noisy. I mean, the man is blind, not deaf. For a PTSD sufferer living alone, and whose other senses are naturally amplified, the Blind Man did not hear the dog's angry barks? Or the glass breaking, and the distinct beep-beep-beep of the security alarm? Also, the characters are always beaten to a pulp, yet they still manage to get up like nothing happened, and so you still need to justify it by chalking it up to adrenaline rush.
But overall, Don't Breathe is a taut, visually beautiful suspense-thriller. If you are looking for a horror fix at the cinemas, this will not disappoint.
3.5 out of 5 stars
Opens August 31, 2016 in Philippine cinemas (R-13)
Photo credits: Columbia Pictures
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