Don't Breathe Review

About midway through the movie Don't Breathe, I realized I had a huge smile on my face, does that make me a sick and twisted individual?

Don't Breathe is a horror film starring Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette and Stephen Lang. This movie has a fairly simple premise, Rocky (Jane Levy), her boyfriend Money, and Alex (Dylan Minnette) decide to break into the house of a blind man (Stephen Lang). Something goes wrong while they are in the house and the blind man locks the three teens inside the house. Will the three of them make it out alive or will the blind man be able to handle the home invaders?

What's really interesting about Don't Breathe is that you don't really know who to root for. The blind man is just protecting his house. The three teens are committing a crime and they are on his property so he has every right to protect himself. Throughout the movie, I found myself rooting for the blind man and looking forward to what he would do to the home invaders. But as the movie progresses you do start to wonder if maybe the blind man isn't that innocent and there is more to him than just some lonely hermit. This causes you to maybe start to root of the teens, but you still have this sour taste in your mouth that maybe they do deserve what is happening to them.

The performances in this movie are pretty spectacular. Stephen Lang does a marvelous job as the blind man (and yes that's what he is listed as in the credits). He doesn't have a lot of dialog but his facial expressions are able to show a wide range of emotions from rage to toughness to fear. When you look at him, you wouldn't expect him to be afraid, but then you remember that he is blind and he doesn't really know where the intruders are at in his house so at times he can be pretty vulnerable. Because they are trying to avoid the blind man, Jane Levy and Dylan Minnette have to do a lot of their acting without words as well. If they were to speak or make any type of sound, the blind man would find them. This causes a lot of their fear and anxiety to be shown via facial expressions. I feel like they both did a great job conveying what was going through their heads and that immediately help put you as an audience member into their shoes.

Even though the premise of Don't Breathe is pretty simple, there were still some fun surprises and twists. I felt like the movie was predictable in all the right places and then would throw a twist at you at just the right moment. Early on in the movie, they show you certain things around the house and you just know that those items will play into the story in some way and I really enjoyed that kind of foreshadowing. There is one twist that doesn't really fit with the rest of the movie and probably could have been left out, but it did lead to a moment that made me gag which I'm not sure has ever happened in a movie before.

I was really surprised with how much fun I had with Don't Breathe. I highly recommend seeing this movie if you are a fan of suspense and enjoy being stressed out while watching a movie. Maybe I am just sick and twisted, but I think you too, will find yourself with a smile on your face while you watch Don't Breathe.

4 out of 5 Stars