Don't Breathe (2016) #437

Intense, intense, intense; that's the best way to describe the film "Don't Breathe", the newest film from director Fede Alvarez ("Evil Dead") and co-producers Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert. It's a simple premise that delivers in every way; three young adults break into a rundown house to steal a fortune in cash from a blind veteran. The small cast of main characters keeps the story running smoothly and at a brisk pace and the film doesn't rely on gore or jump scares since the entire film is one long scare. My only complaint is that we really don't get to know too much about the three thieves, so it's hard to sympathize with them too much when things run astray.

What makes this movie work so well is the use of sound as well as visuals in certain scenes. Like the movie "Hush", one of the main characters has a sensory deficiency and that handicap plays directly into the plot. Unlike "Hush", "Don't Breathe" utilizes this detail perfectly and actually makes it important to the premise of the film. In this film, the blind man has home court advantage and it doesn't matter that he's blind because he knows every inch of his house and has grown to live with his disability and has learned to depend on his hearing that much more. 

Jane Levy is the main antigonist/protagonist in don't breathe, returning to work with Mr. Alvarez after starring as Mia in the 2013 "Evil Dead" film. Like most leading women in the horror genre, her character is all kick ass and "can do", more than holding her own along the side of her two male partners. My favorite moment of this is when she tells the other two that she's going to climb through a window so they can get inside; one of the guys tells her she isn't being made to do it, she informs him that she's choosing to by her own choice.

Of course some people may complain that there are a few plot holes or situations where they'll ask why didn't the characters do this or that, but I think that's looking at the film much to closely. This is a great way to spend 90 minutes, just getting lost in the moment of a really fun movie. Fede has proved that he has range as a horror director and I look forward to the next project he works on.