No respires

I was expecting this film to be cheesy and well, crap! But I was surprised. I feel it grips the audience really well.

Three burglars find out about a blind army vet, living in an abandoned street, sitting on a huge amount of cash. The three burglars break their rule of not stealing cash and decide to rob the place, thinking it would be a piece of cake. And of course it isn't. The blind army vet isn't as helpless as they had hoped for.

Don't Breathe is directed by Fede Alvarez, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Rodo Sayagues. They obviously felt inspired by David Fincher's Panic Room (2002), and did come up with a great, suspenseful movie. The three burglars are played by Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette and Daniel Zovatto, who all do a great job. Stephen Lang however outshines everyone in this movie as the old blind man. He doesn't say a lot but his gestures and mimics were enough to be uncomfortably creepy. Even though he played a blind guy, he still made his character seem anything but helpless, on the contrary, his character was more menacing than any ghost, monster or murderer from your average horror movie. On the other hand however, you feel sorry for the blind man. He's simply a man trying to protect his house from burglars. Or is there more behind this man? The movie does a good job making you wonder about whether the blind man has something to hide or not. The movie does a poorer job however with Daniel Zovatto's character, he's the typical character every horror movie has: the asshole that talks too much and doesn't care about anything or anyone.

Besides one or two cheap jump scares, the movie succeeded at maintaining a lingering suspense throughout the entire movie. Once the three burglars are inside the house, there won't be a moment that you'll feel at ease. This is an edge-of-your-seat kind of movie. The movie opens with a scene that obviously takes place later in the movie, which alerts you that until that scene, the burglars will never be safe, and heightens the suspense even more.

As the movie progresses, the twists and turns in the story start to accumulate. Twists and turns in a story are great but not if there are too many, and not if these twist and turns are the ones you might expect from a horror movie. Throughout its course, the movie becomes more and more predictable. And this is where the suspense, although still being present, lessens.

'Don't Breathe' is a great horror movie, accessible for people who don't usually enjoy the genre. It has a great premise and is very suspenseful but becomes a bit too predictable over time.

Fede Alvarez just gave Green Room a run for its money with Don't Breathe, an incredibly intense film and glorious exercise in suspense. It's one of the best studio-produced thrillers I've seen in years. The premise is simple: A group of teens plans to break into a blind man's house to steal his money. Only thing, the old man is more adept than they realize. While the setup is a little too pedestrian, albeit economical, once the story gets rolling, the film doesn't let up, running at a lean 88 minutes. Other than that, Don't Breathe is best viewed going in knowing as little as possible.

This is Alvarez's first film in three years since his violent and solid remake of Evil Dead, and it is with this sophomoric debut that solidifies the genre filmmaker as someone with obvious talent. Inspirations are drawn from the best - Hitchcock, Fincher, and Wait Until Dark are a few - but Alvarez provides his own unique vision that truly makes the film his own. Like the masters before him, Don't Breathe is purely cinematic, relying less on dialogue and more on visual storytelling and sound to drive the film. The cinematography is amazing as well as the creative sound design, so much so they are characters within the film themselves.

The cast, while small, is great too, including Jane Levy, who can pretty much be titled this generation's scream queen after this and Evil Dead. Dylan Minnette is good in his role as well, providing enough sympathy for his character. Both young actors are put through hell, and their physical performances sell their tumultuous ordeal convincingly. However, it is Stephen Lang who is the film's shining beacon. As the antagonist, Lang is instantly memorable and frightening, an intimidating force that permeates throughout the film even in scenes without his presence.

If there's one gripe about the film, there's a plot twist that doesn't quite work, but that itself is a minor complaint compared to the many things the film gets right and does so well. I won't say more. Don't Breathe is a technical achievement, the rare studio film that actually pushes what film can do as a medium. However, like with Green Room, try not to get caught up in the hype, even with my glowing review. Set your expectations appropriately, and remember to avoid watching the trailer.

After Evil Dead's well-made remake, a lot of us felt that Fede Alvarez was a director to watch. With Don't Breathe, he definitely became a director I'm very excited to see future projects from.

I admire his knack to generate tension. After the film kicks off, there is really no stopping. It became almost unbearable at the end, nearly reaching the point of overkill. When you have a thriller filled with so much tension throughout its running time, there's only so much you can do before you start yelling "you gotta be kidding me" at the screen.

The cinematography was beautiful and moody and the performances were fine, except maybe Jane Levy, who I felt was too wooden, making her character a little bit unlikable.

Don't Breathe was a solid effort and a great addition to the home invasion genre with a little twist.

Not being a massive fan of horror films I'm quite selective in which ones I watch . The reviews for this were pretty good so I gave it a go and I have to say I really enjoyed it. It's the story of three friends who decide to rob the home of a blind war veteran but things go terribly wrong when they find out that there is more to this man than they first thought. What I like about this is that it doesn't have any supernatural aspect to the story so it feels more real than most horrors. There are some quite disturbing scenes so it's not for the faint hearted . One especially involving a turkey baster but you will have to see the film to find out what that's all about ! All in all it's well worth a watch but not with granny at Christmas.