I didn’t. At All. Not once. You won’t either. Don’t Breathe is a test of your endurance for how long you can hold your breath in: 88 minutes of relentless tension with just a blind man, a dog, three kids, and a house.
Rocky (Jane Levy) and Money (Daniel Zovatto) have been manipulating Alex (Dylan Minnette) to break into his father’s security systemed homes. Sounds awful right? Well, Money is, but Rocky does it so she can take her younger sister (daughter?) away from her reprehensible mother, and Dylan pines for Rocky like somethin awful. Through a tip, the trio realize that a blind man (Stephen Lang) living in the middle of nowhere Detroit surrounded by abandoned buildings, is sitting on a gigantic monetary settlement. Rocky decides this is her ticket out of her waking nightmare and the trio break in to search for the money. However, the blind man turns out to be more resourceful than meets the eye.
Don’t Breathe will make your body contort to not witness all the terrible things onscreen that could happen. Many primal fears have to be faced here: darkness, unleashed attack dogs, strangers in a house, claustrophobia. The blindness is a nice spin too; because of the reliance on hearing for the blind man, there is more silence and stillness than normal for a horror movie. Watching the hunter and hunted in a movie share the same room, knowing the slightest slip up could lead to something awful, is heart attack inducing. Don’t Breathe isn’t just about the jump scares and slow motion car wreck tension. There are some BIG reveals that alter the character stakes heavily in the third act, upping the scares in the movie at least 20%, and it was already successfully scary. A bird could fly into your mouth with how agape Don’t Breathe will cause it to open.
The three big principles do their part to make this movie a very scary experience. Stephen Lang conveys strength, fear, and vunlerability as the blind man. Regardless of the scene, Lang commands the screen. He doesn’t speak for so long that when he does, it is terrifying. Jane Levy is a good mix of youthfully selfishness and honorable strong horror girl character. The nice twist is she’s the alpha and controls her own fate. Dylan Minette is nice as the pining friend, honorable and cute with an inner power and moral compass.
I walked out of Don’t Breathe mildly catatonic. The movie, like a Pit Bull, will grab hold of you and never let you go. This movie reminded me why I will never get a Rottweiler as a pet, PETA be damned.