Don't Breathe (2016) ***1/2

I feel like there has been a crop of high-quality horror films in recent years. Maybe I'm just finally giving the genre a chance. This past year I have caught up on "It Follows," "Green Room,"  "Cloverfield" and "10 Cloverfield Lane," as well as the more recent "Get Out", all outstanding movies. Next up was “Don't Breathe,” by Uruguayan director Fede Alvarez. Alvarez's rise as a director is classic. In 2009, for about $300, he made a short, action film called “Panic Attack.” The film caught the attention of Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead”), who knows a little something about making high-octane horror films on a low budget. Raimi tapped Alvarez to direct his “Evil Dead” remake; the guy knocked it out of the park; and now Alvarez gets to write and direct his own projects.

The first of these projects is “Don't Breathe,” about a group of thieves who break into the wrong house. Rocky (Jane Levy) and her boyfriend, Money (Daniel Zovatto), are a couple of Detroiters with no money or job prospects. What they do have is their friend Alex (Dylan Minnette), whose dad works for a private security firm. Alex is able to get access to alarm codes and house keys, which the trio use to commit small burglaries. They keep the crimes small at Alex's insistence, to limit police interest in them. Then Money gets a tip about a blind war veteran who may have a ton of cash in his house. The kids figure this is an easy way to make a score big enough to start new lives.

As you can guess, it isn't so easy. The blind vet turn out to be a badass, who knows his house like the back of his hand. In the dark, he is the one with the advantage, and it leads to a very rough night for Alex, Money, and Rocky.

You wouldn't think the story would work. To enjoy a horror movie, you need to identify with the terrorized characters, and who wants to identify with people who would rob a blind guy? It turns out, the movie takes time to develop the characters of Rocky and Alex enough that you actually sympathize with them a bit. Then they discover the blind guy's secret, which really turns the tables on the question of whom to root for.

“Don't Breathe” doesn't break new ground or subvert any of the classic horror tropes. The scares are of a type that we have seen before: The bad guy keeps coming back to life. There's a damsel in distress. You know the drill. Fortunately, thanks to very tight directing and charming performances, especially from Dylan Minnette and Jane Levy, “Don't Breathe” is a thoroughly enjoyable, scary good time.

3.5 stars out of 5