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User Reviews for: Don't Breathe

saundrew
6/10  8 years ago
Breaking and entering turns bad for a few robbers. Do you think you'll have some difficulty feeling any sympathy for these people? There is a reasonable chance you will. But maybe you're not dead inside like I am.

I do appreciate this movie for a few aspects. The main thing, and its most important aspect to be good at, is the fact that it doesn't feel repetitive. The story does indeed progress, with new plot elements unfolding the whole way. I was afraid we'd just be stuck in the same horror film style for an hour and a half. Without this, I'd have hated it and wanted to leave after 20 minutes.

The other big positive is that jump scares did actually originate from the story. They (mostly) make sense for what is happening. Of course this is still the cheap way to make a horror movie scary, but when done in a good way I don't mind it.

But unfortunately the film does have a decent handful of problems. The primary one for me is that I don't care about these characters' lives. They are terrible people, and the connection the film tries to create for them is weak. The layout of the location is also not doing it for me. They make this average sized house feel like a goddamn mansion. Someone walks into the next room and it is like they disappear.

Finally, the climax of this movie let me down soooo much. Seriously, it was about to end and I thought it was a really solid one. Then it keeps going and I thought this end was decent. Then it keeps going and I think this end is meh. Then it keeps going and the end is stupid, standard formula horror. This really knocked it down for me.

If you're looking for a horror and you're sort of into the genre, you might like it a bit more. I'll never pick to watch it again, but won't mind if someone else picks it out.
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IamDWG
CONTAINS SPOILERS8/10  8 years ago
So, I wasn't sure what to expect from this movie before I watched it - but I was hoping for at least one quality - suspense, and in its minimal requirement, it no doubt delivered. The title, Don't Breathe, isn't only telling the characters to keep quiet for fear the blind man would find them, but it is also instructing the audience to hold their breath as well. I was highly impressed and satisfied with how much suspense the film held - it wasn't about scaring an audience. It wasn't about jump scares or the like, but deep and quiet reveals that develop a natural substance that can actually scare an audience and make them fear for the worst. In short, you are feeling what the characters are feeling; that's incredible.

Next, I want to talk about the direction of the film. On one hand, I wasn't a fan that it had to go [spoiler] a violent route [/spoiler] so fast. I wanted a lot of stealthy, jaw-dropping suspense throughout the movie. I actually wanted it to practically be a silent movie - other than the variant sounds of footsteps, exhales of held breath, of tripping over whatever. That's what I wanted to see in the movie because I truly believe that would have created an interesting atmosphere and possibly be one of the most suspenseful movies...ever. On the other hand, the direction it does take is kind of unpredictable, and I love not being able to predict things.

The visuals in the movie are interesting enough to take into consideration. You'll notice a lot of green and blue hues - but mostly green. Imagine in The Matrix when they doused everything in a greenish tint. The thing about that is, back in 1999, that sort of trick was interesting and gave the film a unique vibe. Nowadays, it's been done so much that when you see it, something deep down starts to question the quality of the movie. The tint itself feels cheap, even though I know it's probably not. So if I had anything negative to talk about, it would actually be that.

Don't Breathe is a good movie. Not perfect, but good. While I sit here thinking I could have made a more suspenseful tale, that's not what the writer or director wanted. They wanted some suspense, and some really twisted ideas and visuals - which they undoubtedly achieve. Some bits and pieces of the film could be considered over-the-top, but the way I saw it was...it had impressive moments. In other movies where they focus on jump scares or push the limits on gore, this movie didn't - what it did do was present an idea, a wonderfully twisted idea and you love every second of that because why not? Check it out, it's entertaining enough and worth a watch!
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mooney240
/10  2 years ago
**The ruthless savagery of the killer combined with the tight quarters and oppressive silence make Don't Breathe a well-done and frightening slasher must-see.**

What starts as a typical home invasion thriller transforms into anything, but when the blind elderly man the thieves thought would be an easy mark turns out to be a vicious killer, Don't Breathe becomes something so much better. With suspense and tension similar to A Quiet Place, characters desperately fight to hold their breath and avoid making any sound so the deadly blind man can't find and kill them. Don't Breathe is visceral, brutal, and claustrophobic. In such a small, confined space, the anxiety never fades because the killer is literally in the room with his potential victims. There is one particularly disturbing scene near the end, so I recommend looking up a parents guide before you commit to watching if you aren't a frequent horror enthusiast. Don't Breathe surprises as one of the best new horror slasher films of the last decade.
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joshfaknam
/10  6 years ago
As is typical with almost all movies of this genre I found this film to be predictable and lacking real creativity. It is an unfortunate collision of several popular titles and left me wondering if its writers had just binge watched a weekend of thriller films that made a few bucks before looking at each other through a bongy haze and declaring "Dude we can totally write a screenplay!"
The result is a film that is average at best. Perhaps the audience could also benefit from a little pre-screening bongy haze of their own.
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Frank Ochieng
/10  6 years ago
There are several contemporary horror showcases that could certainly benefit from co-writer/director Fede Alvarez’s (“Evil Dead”) edgy home invasion thriller **Don’t Breathe**. For starters, Alvarez taps into the suggestive elements of tension without the overextended need to go overboard. The chills and thrills seem almost organic and unassuming. Sure, there appears to be a simplistic approach to an otherwise conventional premise of a house break-in at the hands of opportunistic thugs. Nevertheless, **Don’t Breathe** captures the claustrophobic spirit of its inherent creepiness with stylish cruelty and cleverness.

Inevitably, **Don’t Breathe** may inspire cinematic comparisons to the 2002 David Fincher-directed vehicle _Panic Room_. Understandably the theme is somewhat recognizable to movie audiences as ominous strangers invading your domestic private space is a recipe for paranoia and persecution. However, **Don’t Breathe** takes this precarious situation to a whole new scare tactic level of horrific proportions. Consequently, the executed violence and terror-driven tempo is definitely worthy of its suspense-driven objectives. **Don’t Breathe** is a macabre masterpiece in the making that sets the standard for a current-day stillborn and repetitive horror genre that thrives on pressure cooker predictability.

The set-up for **Don’t Breathe** is quite ambitious and challenging thus forming an interesting spin on the home robbery scenario. The sordid story centers around three upstart small-time crooks making the rounds of thievery in the suburban surroundings of Detroit. Rocky (Jane Levy) and her two male companions Money and Alex (Daniel Zovatto and Dylan Minnette) are able to carry off their home invasion scamming courtesy of Alex’s connections to a home security firm owned by his father (where there is all kinds of access information to private residences and local businesses).

Alex’s stipulation, however, is that these home invasion robberies need to be less flashy without drawing too much attention. Plus, all the stolen items confiscated much not be too expensive otherwise their illegal activities will be exposed much sooner than later. Unfortunately lovebirds Rocky and Money do not see eye-to-eye with Alex’s brand of careful and cautious home-robbing philosophy. In fact, the romantic couple wants to reach for the sky and steal as much stuff possible to make their dreams of living on East Street an immediate reality. So what will it take for Alex to get on the same page as Rocky and Money in terms of all of them benefiting on a big score without suffering the dire consequences?

The consensus is reached among the law-breaking trio that their next target for viable riches is in the form of a blinded Iraqi war veteran (Stephen Lang). The word is that the personally troubled and sightless ex-military man is about to be awarded a whopping three-hundred thousand dollar cash settlement involving the wrongful death of his beloved young daughter. So the home invasion task seems quite self-explanatory to the young heist-happy hooligans as committing theft against a seemingly vulnerable blind man emotionally and psychologically down in the dumps should be a piece of cake so to speak. Well, Rocky and her two boytoys were sadly mistaken if they thought that they could take sole advantage of this savvy yet disturbed disabled war vet with visions of sorrow and sacrifice.

The realization that the home-invading crew has picked a tricky trap of a house to pillage while underestimating the capabilities of its handicapped owner seems like poetic justice. In fact, the irony of the criminal threesome trying to escape the boarded-up dark and dingy household makes them look like the victimized three blind mice at the mercy of a crazed trigger-happy, sight-deprived ex-soldier that can see all too well that his cherished castle and belongings are being jeopardized by these punkish intrusive violators. Strangely, the audience is left wondering whether or not they should root for the blinded bombshell protecting his homestead of secrets or the clueless crooks that talked themselves into this caustic cat-and-mouse game of gloom-and-doom.

**Don’t Breathe** is uncharacteristically compelling for a horror showcase because it relies on genuine scary jolts and jumps…or at least the anticipation of the jolts and jumps that have convincing dramatic weight behind the build up of intensity. Alvarez crafts an arousing narrative that brilliantly displays the mounting nervousness that awaits. Lang’s belligerent blind man patrols every spacing and crevice in the darkness with the will of a rabid dog in heat as he points his explosive firearms at the slightest movements of his trapped guinea pigs in despair. Creatively nerve-racking and nauseous, **Don’t Breathe** makes dutiful usage of its instinctual delivery of shock value as this potent pot-boiler never settles for any sense of false or mechanically manufactured hedonism. The haunting aura that exists in **Don’t Breathe** is gasping in visceral authenticity.

As the menacing misfit saddled by wartime mortar fire blindness but blessed with tactical tenacity drenched in borderline villainy, Lang’s portrayal as the sightless hunter tracking down his vulnerable prey in his tortured domestic playground is solidly digestible. His inner madness was already established by personalized heartbreak but the arrival of his uninvited guests devilishly unleashed more demons within his off-kilter psyche. The moving targets at the other end of the deranged blind man’s intimidating gun are thoroughly convincing as the harried catalysts for their sightless tormentor’s frustration and escalating rage. Levy’s Rocky, Zovatto’s Money and Minnette’s Alex are plausible as the frightened specimens caught in the maniacal maze of their aggressor’s clutches.

The very thought of a psychotic blind man enforcing his brand of warped justice on the youthfully sighted self-indulgent saps is deliciously manipulative and wonderfully inventive. The creepy corners concerning the backlash blackness in **Don’t Breathe** is explored with grand naughtiness and the atmospheric vibes certainly will not disappoint in this percolating peek-a-boo primer.

**Don’t Breathe** (2016)

Ghost House Pictures/Screen Gems/Stage 6 Films/Good Universe

1 hr. 28 mins.

Starring: Jane Levy, Stephen Lang, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovatto, Emma Bercovici, Franciska Torocsik

Directed and Co-Written by: Fede Alvarez

MPAA Rating: R

Critic’s Rating: *** stars (out of 4 stars)

(c) **Frank Ochieng** 2016
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