Monday, October 17, 2016

'Don't Breathe' Is a Solid Home Invasion Movie with a Twist

Don’t Breathe is about three young Detroit burglars named Rocky (Jane Levy), Alex (Dylan Minnette), and Money (Daniel Zovatto) who learn of a blind Army veteran (Stephen Lang) who keeps in his house a sizable amount of cash, which was the settlement awarded to him after his daughter was killed in a car accident.  Thinking it’s going to be an easy job due to the man’s disability, the trio breaks into the man’s house after minimal deliberation and reconnaissance.  However, the home invaders soon discover that the blind man is not as helpless as they have assumed, and is keeping a shocking secret inside the house – a secret that the man is very ready to kill for in order to keep.

This movie is quite a treat.  I like how it twists the formula of the home invasion premise: making the homeowner the murderous baddie (and a blind man to boot!) and the trespassers the victims/protagonist.  I find it a brilliant, fresh setup.  Even its choice of title is cleverly catchy in relation to the setup.
As a horror film, it doesn’t cheat but does a first-rate job in delivering the scares and thrills.  The suspense is built up impeccably, and the tense atmosphere is well sustained all throughout its visceral, smart narrative.  Most importantly, for a horror film to really make an impact, its villain must project a notably frightening air, and Stephen Lang accomplishes that by being a thoroughly terrifying badass.

Don’t Breathe is a very solid horror film that respects and rewards its audience.  I liked it a lot.  Though I can’t guarantee that it will crack into my year end list for favorite movies, it’s definitely a contender.

Postscript:
This movie is definitely going to have a sequel.  We can infer this, not only based on how the movie ended, but, more significantly, because of its box office performance.  It made $147.1 million against a budget of $9.9 million!  That’s a staggering 1,486% return on investment!!!  Surely, its studio would want to replicate such astounding numbers.

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