Dark Film Review – Don’t Breathe
Review Written by Casey Douglass
Don’t Breathe
is another horror film from Fede Alvarez, and it takes an already
adrenaline filled subject: burglary, and finds a way to twist it into
something more horrific. The film follows Rocky (Jane Levy), Alex
(Dylan Minette) and Money (Daniel Zovatto), characters who largely
fall into “semi-likeable mother doing it for her kid”, “wet
behind the ears lovelorn tag-along with access to keys” and
“arsehole boyfriend”. The opportunity to burgle the house of a
blind guy, who also happens to live in a derelict part of town,
dangles the prospect of an easy score above the heads of the
money-short trio, a job that sounds like it should be a piece of
piss, easier than a more mundane burglary any day of the week. Wrong!
This blind old man (Stephen Lang) has more than money in the house,
and when he discovers their presence, blood is spilled not long after.
I enjoyed the core
dynamic of the film a great deal, as it lent itself to so many
situations in which the characters had to stand stock still, breath
held (ah ha!), hoping that he wouldn’t realise that they were
there. As a horror mechanic, it works very well. Later, in this fast
paced film, the odds swing even more against the invaders as the
blind man cuts power to all of the lights in the house. This leads to
the night-vision fueled scurrying seen in the trailer, where he
knows the layout, but the burglars walk into and knock over all kinds
of things as they try to make their escape. Good stuff.
The narrative itself
takes a number of twists and turns, many of which I didn’t see
coming (no pun intended). From a minimal setting of the scene, the
film launches into the “job” and pretty much doesn’t let up
until the end. It wasn’t a scary or jumpy film, for me at least,
but it did provide some great tense moments that left me impressed
with it as a whole. The characters were largely forgettable horror
fodder and I must admit that their fate didn’t really bother me one
way or the other. I don’t think I ever found myself rooting for the
blind man either, but there was certainly a feeling of sympathy
involved, even after the film twists into something more sinister.
Don’t Breathe
is well worth watching for the tension involved in the burglars’
trying to outwit a seemingly disadvantaged blind man. Don’t go
expecting to be scared though, just maybe hope for some tension, and
the chance to see something a bit different to the usual jump-scare
fodder. I give it 4/5.
Don’t Breathe
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