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Review: Prepare to hold your breath when watching ‘Don’t Breathe’
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Jane Levy (left) and Dylan Minnette are pictured in a scene from Don't Breathe. (Sony/Screen Gems via AP/Gordon Timpen)
D
irected by Fede Alvarez, who made his Hollywood debut with Evil Dead, Don't Breathe is a horror/thriller movie that perfectly blends both genres and will shock you in your seat.
The opening scene starts with an old man dragging what seems to be the lifeless body of a girl along the middle of a road in an empty neighborhood. It is cryptic enough to scare anyone, raising questions like “What happened?” and “How?”
While everyone is still bewildered by the first scene, the movie then introduces three friends who are robbers: Rocky, played by Jane Levy (Evil Dead, Suburgatory), Alex, played by Dylan Minnette (Let Me In, Goosebumps), and Money, played by Daniel Zovatto (Revenge, Fear the Walking Dead).
Rocky wants to take her little sister away from their abusive home, so with the help of Alex and Money she robs houses in order to move to California. Money learns of a house in an empty neighborhood that they could rob, belonging to an old man (Stephan Lang) who lives alone, but what happens inside is not what they imagined.
(Read also: Thai horror movies you should not watch alone)
They learn he is blind, but they don’t rob him blind. They underestimate the abilities of an ex-veteran who lost his eyes in Iraq. The movie is titled Don’t Breathe because if you do, he could find you. His sense of hearing is heightened, as is his sense of smell.
Audiences will be shaking in anticipation as he appears at every corner; he’s relentless, he’s silent when he moves and you never know when or where he might appear. Audience members stay as silent as the characters. The tension is high as the trio tries to get away from the blind man, but he locks them in. He is hiding a secret that he will not let get away.
The movie displays real elements of the horror and thriller genres, allowing viewers to imagine what the characters are really going through trapped inside the house. The audience at a recent press screening was so overwhelmed that they gave a round of applause as the movie ended. (kha/kes)
