Don't Breathe
Released 8/26/16
Maybe 2016 will be known as the year horror made a comeback. Well, maybe that's too strong of a statement. We'll just say it's the year that saw a lot of mainstream horror releases. How about that? We've already seen the releases of The Forest, The Boy, The Witch, and, if you really want to stretch things, Pride Prejudice and Zombies. Depending on your tastes, while there's been quantity in the horror genre, has there necessarily been quality? As a geeked out fanboy of the genre, I can say it's been a pretty mixed bag. There hasn't been anything that's been downright awful. I've seen "meh" (The Boy) to almost good (The Forest) to overrated (The Witch) to solid (The Conjuring 2) to "good, but wished it was better (Lights Out)." So, that brings us to August and our next entry attempting to rank high on my personal "Sinister" scale of horror.
Co-written and directed by Fede Alvarez, Don't Breathe is his second excursion into the horror genre following 2013's remake of horror classic, Evil Dead. Now, if you saw that one, you know Alvarez has a flair for the wicked and disgusting with a dash of WTH thrown in for good measure. While Evil Dead offered him a large canvas to explore the fantastic, Don't Breathe's simplistic premise of home invasion gone wrong naturally calls for a more subdued approach. So, what could Alvarez do with that?
The answer is quite a lot. What he's created here is an extremely tense, at times claustrophobic, but, always riveting thriller that blurs the line of who's the monster and who's the victim. What I like most about what Alvarez does here is he doesn't cop out like so many other directors tend to do. You know the kind of movie I'm talking about. The ones that are painted in shades of grey until the would be villain makes no ifs ands or buts that he/she really is despicable and deserving of being put down.
Rocky (Jane Levy), Alex (Dylan Minnette), and Money (Daniel Zovatto), our three "heroes" in the film are teenage delinquents who make a living breaking into homes secured by the company Alex's father works for and fencing the stolen loot. The motivations of each varies. Rocky is doing it to acquire enough money to leave dilapidated Detroit with her younger sister and move far away from their good-for-nothing mother. Money, Rocky's boyfriend, is doing this under the guise of helping his her, but, he seems to get a perverse thrill out of the whole criminal life. You're really not quite sure why Alex is involved in all of this outside of his infatuation with Rocky. His father seems to make a decent enough living. But, petty thieves they are. With Alex's careful planning, they're a fairly successful group until they go for their biggest score yet. It's one Rocky desperately needs, Money is almost gleeful to execute, and Alex has great trepidation about.
Their next mark is "The Blind Man (Stephen Lang)", a war veteran who lost his sight in Iraq. He's sitting on at least a six-figure settlement of cash he received from a wealthy family for the vehicular death of his daughter perpetrated by that family's own daughter. He's an unassuming hermit who is the only person living on his completely deserted city block. He only has the company of his dog (a big ferocious Rottweiler). The thieves believe the settlement is in his house and they mean to get their hands on it.
While breaking into the house proves to be no piece of cake, once they're in the house, they'll discover much to their chagrin that the Blind Man is not as helpless as he seems. Plus, he has a few dark secrets of his own in that house.
Part of the beauty of Don't Breathe is the dichotomy of Stephen Lang's performance. When you first meet him, you think of him as a pitiful, broken down old man who is just trying to live out the rest of his days in peace. He falls asleep listening to old videos of his daughter. You feel a tremendous amount of sympathy for him especially when he's going to be robbed of a fortune. Why isn't this money in a bank? Well, he's a weird old hermit, what can I tell you? As Money puts it, he doesn't trust anybody. But, remember those WTH moments I mentioned Alvarez has a flair for? A switch is flipped and the Blind Man goes from prey to predator in a lightning quick moment. It's rather impressive and unsettling at the same time.
The reveal of the Blind Man's secrets will make you sympathize with him a little less to be sure, but, even with that, you still understand his motivation as bat spit crazy as it is. The thieves become essentially rats in a maze as the Blind Man traps them inside the house and systematically hunts them. And you can only feel for them so much. Yes, they're fighting for their lives against a crazy old man, but, they were there to steal from him despite whether their motivations were noble or not.
Alvarez also employed a masterful use of lighting in the film. When the lights are turned out and everyone is walking around in complete darkness, you understand the abject terror of the thieves being completely out of their element. Of course, the Blind Man is right at home and moves with stealth and grace. Having no sight, the old man's other senses are highly acute. There's a reason for the name of the movie. Any slight sound could mean death. The near misses as the thieves try to avoid him in the dark will have you bug-eyed.
That doesn't mean our trio, well, let's say duo because, *spoiler*, one thief falls fairly quickly, is unresourceful. They do come to realize a couple of times that in "Daredevil-style" fashion, the Blind Man can be overwhelmed when he's on sensory overload. The problem is they're just too terrified to do anything about it most of the time. And, let me just add, it was genius to have the Blind Man live in a deserted area. No one can hear anyone's screams. No help is coming. The dread almost pulsates.
While Don't Breathe isn't what I would call personally terrifying necessarily, it is one of the tensest movies I've seen in recent memory. Alvarez gives it it's own special moodiness. It has its own feel and unique atmosphere. Even if you don't necessarily feel the peril the protagonists are in, you understand why they feel it.
Don't Breathe is a very satisfying outing for Alvarez that I hope isn't ruined by a sequel. That will be dictated by the box office of course and there is an opening for one if the market calls for it. But, this is nice little "one off" thriller that shouldn't be sullied by an obvious cash grab in the future. At least I hope that's the prevailing thought. Let the greatness of this film shine. I would doubt this type of magic will happen a second time without feeling contrived.
On a final note to all my female readers, let me say you'll never look at a turkey baster in quite the same way again. Believe that!
The Dark Lord of the Sith says:
**** stars
Ratings Legend
Zero *= Don't waste your time. Pure dreck! Dreck is too good for this! Blind me please!
1 *= Fuggedaboutit!
2 *= Average, Mediocre, Nothing Special
3 *= Worth a look. Better than a poke in the eye.
4 *= Great. I'm doing my happy dance!
5 *= Pure eye candy. I have seen the top of the mountain, and it is good
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