Directed by:
Fede AlvarezCinematography:
Pedro LuqueComposer:
Roque BañosCast:
Jane Levy, Stephen Lang, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovatto, Emma Bercovici, Franciska Törőcsik, Jane May Graves, Christian Zagia, Katia BokorVOD (2)
Plots(1)
A group of friends break into the house of a wealthy blind man, thinking they'll get away with the perfect heist. They're wrong. (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)
Videos (4)
Reviews (13)
This is an intense rush that has such strong tension that I would have guessed that the film was from the old continent. However, Sam Raimi has sniffed out a distinctive talent on the other side of the ocean who wields a clear vision and rarely agrees to compromise, perhaps by trimming believability in favor of plot development. Yet Lang's tragic protagonist and the atmosphere that cuts under your skin reign supreme, not to mention the few minutes in "absolute darkness." 4 ½.
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Alvarez is a master. In Don’t Breathe he delivers a similarly intensive and energetic horror story as in his recent remake of Evil Dead, but with a more focused and, in many aspects, more surprising tale, based on a simple premise that is exploited to the maximum effect. In other words, satisfaction in every aspect. My only quibble is all those “endings”, where it seems that it’s “done”, but it turns out it isn’t due to bad decisions. Regarding the small time criminals from Detroit, nobody would expect them to behave rationally in a crisis situation, so OK. Don’t Breathe, however, stands out formally and with the performances. Stephen Lang as a blind war veteran is one of the best horror villains in recent years and Jane Levy is a candidate for the modern Scream Queen – the poor thing has gone through a lot in both Alvarez’s films :D... The camera, the sound, the dirty atmosphere. GREAT! Thanks to its sober run, the film is the antithesis of boredom and it’s also impossible to take the opposite critical position, that it’s too harsh and nasty. It is what horror should be. Certainly one of the highlights of the year.
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I'm a little perplexed by Fede Alvarez's praised new release this year. Don't Breathe won both me and most fans over with its stylish trailer, but the film, although good, failed to captivate me much. I took the top-notch visuals and brisk pace for granted here, so I don't take these as plus points, translating more into minor downsides that distracted me while watching. Stephen Lang looks tough and commands respect, but he hardly speaks for the whole film, which bothered me, they could have given teasing dialogues threatening the thieves. Also, the guy who handled the sound would have deserved a slap, which at least for me took away the jump scares (for example, the scene with the dog, we see it three seconds before it barks, which lost the effect in me). The film is hardly brutal at all, compared to Evil Dead it keeps very low key, which also irritated me. None of the deaths are effective or interesting, and in fact there was a memorable scene missing that made me want to watch it again. The one twist that flickers throughout also doesn't hold much interest. All in all, an entertaining and at times suspenseful home invasion flick that masks its ordinariness with an original villain, but Evil Dead was a tribute much closer to my heart. Story 6/10, Atmosphere 8/10, Gore 2/10, Visuals 8/10, Action 6/10, Suspense 7/10, Humor 0/10. Entertainment 8/10, Scares 1/10. 70%.
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I used to believe in Fede Alvarez a lot, then after Evil Dead sent him packing – and now I am cautiously taking him back. Because in Don't Breathe there is none of the expected gore or cheapness, except for that specific basement episode, but in terms of genre, surprisingly ambitious composition lies in this eerie building. This game with audience expectations, where my relationship to the characters repeatedly and significantly changes, has no equal. Combined with the natural progression of scares and an unbearably intense scene in absolute darkness, I willingly overlook a few moments where a viewer with a taste for finding plotholes could show a bit of mercy.
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An imaginative combination of suspense aesthetics and cinematic action, a satisfyingly explosive and effective spectacle in a contained setting with minimal characters, devoid of genre predictability and pitting interesting anti-heroes against each other in an open-ended game of survival; all without plot digressions, superfluous dialogues and reprehensible clichés. An excellent and scary Stephen Lang, a likeable Jane Levy. The ending is a bit unnecessarily drawn out just to force all the hinted motives into the desired denouement, and there are some serious questions about the logic, but that doesn't change the fact that Alvarez succeeded and convinced me once again that horror filmmakers can still find fertile ground.
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