This week, we headed off to see Don’t Breathe, from writer/director Fede Alvarez, who most recently gave us the reboot of the Evil Dead.
Don’t Breathe is a home invasion film, with a twist. We follow Rocky (Jane Levy, reteaming with her Evil Dead director), her boyfriend, Money (Daniel Zovatto) and friend, Alex (Dylan Minnette)
The 3 carry out many small burglaries, using info and access codes that Alex is able to obtain, as his father works for a security firm. They are then able to gain access to property as have a duplicate key and codes to turn
They are then able to gain access to property as have a duplicate key and codes to turn the burglar alarm off, steal what they can, then smash a window, which will set the alarm off to make it look like a break-in!
Money’s contact who he hands the property over that they steal, in return for cash, gives him a new tip of a property, lived in by a blind war veteran, known only as The Blind Man (Stephen Lang) to steal from.
All that is known is that he received a massive money settlement from very wealthy parents of a girl,who killed his daughter, in a car accident, in return for her not going to prison.
He never leaves his house so it is highly likely that huge cash settlement is in his house, in fact his only company appears to be a dog who could give Cujo a run for his money!
After checking out the house, they decide to break in, with the blind man asleep inside the property! Once inside, gaining access via a small window, they find a basement heavily locked from both the outside and inside. They, therefore assume this is where the money is kept.
Money tries to break the lock, after trying to wrench it open, he tries shooting the lock with a gun! This gets too much for Alex, as bringing a gun to a burglar would not only increase any jail time if
This gets too much for Alex, as bringing a gun to a burglar would not only increase any jail time if arrested but also legally allows the owner to shoot them, so he goes to leaves the house, but as he does, the blind man has now been alerted to the break in and is awake!
Using sound to guess where his intruders are, the blind man grabs Money, with Rocky fleeing to hide in a nearby cupboard.
Money is challenged to how many burglars are in the house and he says none, resulting in the Blind Man shooting him dead!
After Money is no longer a threat, the blind man heads to the cupboard where Rocky fears for her life, but the reality is, he is only going in there to check his large amount of money is still in his safe, which is hidden on the top shelf.
This leaves the question of what is locked in the basement! Well, that would be a major spoiler, but what I can tell you is Alex returns to try and save Rocky and many cat and mouse situations follows as the blind man nearly catches them.
The film has many shocking moments and some very daft moments where we are expected to forget as this is a horror movie.
I think we would have enjoyed this more had we not seen Hush, another home invasion (our review is here) but in this case, it featured a mute rather than blind victim.
This in part is our big issue with the film, developments happen in the film where you come to realise the blind man is not just a victim, with him having carried out crimes of his own. However, at the end of the day, he is the person having his home broken into and our 3 burglars are in the wrong!
We get some back story, that Rocky has a younger sister and her father has left them, leaving them with an uncaring, abusive mother, so she is stealing to give them a better life, but is that really a reason to route for her?
Alex has no back story at all, why is he stealing these keys and codes from his father? It is implied he is doing it as he loves Rocky, even though she has a boyfriend!
Rocky and Money also don’t seem a very realistic couple either, so best to put all that aside and go along for the ride, which is pretty relentless.
Be warned, this film may do for turkey basters, what Jaws has done for some in respect of swimming in the sea.
Overall we liked the film, it was a nice twist having the ‘monster’ be blind and Fede continues to be a horror film director to look out for, its well worth a watch, especially if you don’t have access to Netflix in order to see Hush
You can watch the trailer here
Don’t breathe is rated 15 and has a run time of 88 minutes
