Don't breathe review

[Westside Steve]

 

 

Don't Breath

 

Sony

 

R. 88 min

 

 

It might be nitpicking to point out that this film is being billed as a horror picture. As for myself I'd expect a horror picture to have something supernatural going on, or at least that's what one might expect. For example devils demons witches Etc rule the roost in films including NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and THE EXORCIST, and even Jason in FRIDAY THE 13th is unrealistically impossible to kill.

 

Oh I understand that there is nothing in TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE that couldn't actually happen under normal circumstances but you get the idea. And that one just happens to be the scariest movie ever.

 

I'd classify DON'T BREATHE as a suspense action thriller, and a damn good one as surprising as that might be.

 

I don't read others reviews before I see a film and I almost always cautioned readers to see the film if they are interested then check back and decide where you disagree with me.

 

All that aside and no matter how you care to classify this one DON'T BREATHE is a suspenseful and intense son of a bitch. Possibly even scarier because there's nothing going on that couldn't happen in the real world.

 

Jane Levy Dylan Minotte and Daniel Zovatto are something of a Bizarro version of The Mod Squad. That is 3 small time burglars each with a different personality and motivation.

 

Rocky (Levy) a product of a bad childhood wants to get the hell out of Detroit and take her daughter with her.

 

Alex (Minotte) is the most timid of the group and smitten by his affection for Rocky and Money (Zovatto) is the bad dude of the trio who vandalizes the properties on top of just stealing the money. He's also the leader of the gang and a loose cannon, the one who carries a gun and is perfectly willing to kill witnesses.

 

He has what he considers a low risk high profit though morally reprehensible plan.

 

A blind veteran, apparently in possession of a huge cash settlement of some kind, lives alone in the only occupied structure in a devastated Detroit neighborhood.

 

Since the haul will be enough to put an end to the series of robberies the two henchmen reluctantly accept the job. Everything goes as planned at the outset, but it would be a damn short movie if things didn't go to hell quickly. Of course this military veteran was already hard as nails and without his eyesight is as comfortable inside a pitch-black house as he would be in broad daylight, unlike the would-be criminals. One might guess that that cat and mouse game could provide enough suspense and thrills for the entire flick but, like they say in infomercials, wait there's more. The Blind Man (Stephen Lang) has a sinister secret which I'll let you find out for yourselves. I'll also let you find out who lives, who dies and the rest of the details of the climax. Let me tell you though, it's all well done, there's nothing supernatural, nothing impossible, nothing really outrageous and it all unfolds almost completely in one location. Both frightening and suspenseful this one never slows down, it's one of the best of its genre.

 

 

B+

 

 

WSS

 

 

 

 

 

 

Westside Steve Simmons