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
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