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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