THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Sometimes, the simple stories can be horrifying to witness. There obviously is no better example than Don’t Breathe.
PLOT
The film takes place in Detroit, Michigan and follows three delinquents: Rocky, Money and Alex. They make a living of breaking into houses and stealing valuables. They’ve been successful for so long due to how Alex can disable security systems made by the same company his father works for. When their last set of stolen items get undervalued by their fence, they get tipped for another job that could be their last. There is an Army veteran who allegedly has about 300K in his home that was given to him as a settlement when a woman accidentally killed his daughter in a car accident. Rocky and Money are immediately down to do it as they desire to go to California. Alex only chooses to help due to his crush on Rocky. When they scout the house, they discover that the man has a Rottweiler and is blind. Hence being credited as ‘The Blind Man’. At night, they begin the robbery. Although Alex durgs the dog, it becomes harder for them as the doors have more locks than anticipated, resulting in breaking in through a bathroom window. Once they're all inside, Money gasses the Blind Man's room to ensure he doesn't hear anything. He ends up making noise as he pries the basement door and shoots at it to open it, believing the money could be there. Uncomfortable of the gun, Alex chooses to leave. This ends up waking up their target who quickly figures out their extent. Since he only hears Money's voice, he goes after him and pins him to the wall. Money chooses to keep their cover by saying he came alone. Despite protecting his group, he gets shot in the neck. As Rocky hides in the closet, she sees the Blind Man check on his vault with the said money they're after. When Alex hears the gunshot, he returns for Rocky and they plan to escape together. The Blind Man does figure out that more intruders are in the house when feeling the pairs of shoes that belong to Rocky and Alex, that they took off to remain silent, along with Money's cellphone going off. Once Rocky takes the money, they go to the basement to try to escape through the cellar door. Once they enter that room, they find that the Blind Man is holding Cindy Roberts (Franciska Töröcsik) hostage, the woman accidentally killed his child. Just as they free her from her restraints and plan to leave with her, he gets the jump on them by grazing Alex in the ear. He does fatally shoot Cindy, but that was not his intent. He than tries to shoot his intruders in the dark when shutting of the basement lights, but runs out of bullets. When he tries strangle Alex, the latter defends himself by dropping a shelf on him. Just as he and Rocky reach upstairs with the new plan to leave from the front door, the dog has woken up and is now inside the house. They avoid the animal by trapping themselves in the second bedroom that belonged to the deceased daughter. As Rocky goes through the ventilation duct, Alex gets pushed out of a window by the dog and falls through the skylight, into the utility room. When the Blind Man gets to him again, he tries to stab him with garden shears. He is able to avoid death again by using Money's corpse. When the dog finds Rocky, she gets found by its master and gets incapacitated by him. She then wakes up in the same restraints and in the basement as she found Roberts. The Blind Man reveals that he impregnated her, to make up for killing her daughter, promised to let her go after giving birth. With her dead as well, he finds Rocky accountable. He intends to inseminate her with a turkey baster but Alex is able to stop him and free her. Just as they reach the front door, the Blind Man shoots Alex from behind, resulting in him dying. As Rocky leaves, the dog chases her to Money's car. Just as she traps it inside, she gets incapacitated again by The Blind Man. She is able to escape for good with the money when she sets off the security system, which irritates him, than knocking into the basement. When he falls, his gun goes off and shoots his side. And just as she leaves, the police arrive. Just as she prepares to head to California with her young sister Diddy, the film ends with her watching the news: It reports that the Blind Man survived an attack by two intruders (Alex and Money), killing them both in self defense and not mentioning Rocky or the money.
THOUGHTS
When I first heard of the film's name, I didn't take it serious because it sounded ridiculous. This was when I realized I should stop judging something by the title because when I got the chance to see this in the fall of 2016, I was blown away. Director Fede Alvarez and co writer Rodo Sayagues were able to create something that puts you in an adrenaline. There was such creativity within simplicity as you could never figure out what would happen next. Throughout this film, I was sweating so much because that is how frightened I was. This film works as a horror film because it actually sounds possible. Home invasions are a subject that is commonly discussed on the news and sometimes, they can go wrong. This is only a fictional example of how bad it can be when it does. When it comes to the cinematography by Pedro Luque, you'll feel the same sense of claustrophobia that the characters are having, to the point where you feel like you're in the room as well. Another interesting thing about this movie is how there is no actual good person in this movie, there are only bad people and you should root for the worst to have a demise. Thanks to a diverse cast, you get each character standpoint and have an idea who to root for. Jane Levy plays the final girl Rocky and she owns it. She's the only one you want to root for because she has something worth living for: She has a sister and wants to have a better when they leave their abusive mother. Committing robberies is always bad but in her perspective, she needed to get out quick to avoid dealing with anymore physical/emotion pain. So during the last robbery, she remained determined to get what she needed. Since the Blind Man chose not to go after her, I am relieved that she had her own happy ending. Dylan Minnette portrays Alex as the loner. He gets involved with the robberies because he seems disconnected with his father. While he doesn't the girl, you respect how he chose to have her back as things went sour, even if it cost his life. As for Daniel Zovatto, he portrays Money as the selfish one who commits crime for the thrill of it and doesn't care of the repercussions. So when he is the first to die, there is no shame in not feeling bad about it. Horror movies have brought incredible villains for generations and the Blind Man is a big standout due to an electric performance by Stephen Lang. At first you think of rooting for him because he's just defending himself. But once you discover his secret, you want him suffer the consequences. He is more dangerous than you expect because he uses his blindness as an advantage towards those who cross him, not a weakness. Your hatred towards him will grow when he acts nihilistic, as if he believes he is not in the wrong. I don't know why he chose not to mention Rocky to the authorities and while I should be glad about it, I wish he went after her because that would be a better sequel than the one we got in 2021. This movie easily exceeded my expectations, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t issues within the story. The first thing that bothered me was the fact that Money pees in the middle of the living room. It’s so stupid to see because he’s leaving his DNA. If he’s been successful with these schemes for so long without doing that, there is no reason to do it now. It is smart of Alex to rob houses with his dad’s security but if he’s been doing it for a while, how have detectives ever questioned employees and their families as prime suspects? If that was the case, the trio would be arrested a long time ago and wouldn’t go through the night that changed their lives. I also found it odd how Alex chose to type up The Blind Man’s address on his laptop before telling Rocky he’ll help them. My problem is that it doesn’t appear to be in a private browser and because of that, that could make a connection to the robbery. Since this is before he dies, I don’t like the fact that he chooses not to cover his tracks at this point. I can’t even believe how he scouted the house for five days and remained unaware that there were four locks they had to unlock. I know they’re mainly concerned of the security system, but this mistake is so stupid that it almost feels like they’re rookies when they’re not. Prying the basement door open is logical to do since they think the money is there, but why don’t they use any of the tools to unscrew the lock? Yeah the money wouldn’t be there anyway, but that’s way better than using a gun. It was a good jump scare when the Blind Man shoots Money’s phone, but who the hell is calling him at night? I want to respect that the scene was great for actually scaring me, but the suspense starts to become pointless because we have no idea who would call him at that time. Is it a side chick, parole officer? I don’t know because the movie chooses to not give a damn of our curiosity. I was caught off guard when Alex gets shot in the ear, but then both sides are at fault from what happen next. Cindy doesn’t even try to run from the Blind Man who shoots indiscriminately. I know he is blind but for someone who is so self aware, it’s upsetting how this is the one time he isn’t careful. He knew she was awake, so he should’ve know better. For someone who despises continuity errors, I was irritated when there is a frame that the Blind Man had a clean shirt when getting a second gun. I know he didn’t change it because the blood would return from the next shot he appears in. Rocky’s pants look completely when she’s in the car avoiding the dog, after the Blind Man cut them with scissors during his attempt to inseminate her. And the bag of money is briefly absent when the dog is on top of the car. Another thing that bothered me was how the cops the cop car did not notice Rocky run across the street as they pull up to the Blind Man’s house. Yeah Rocky was fast, but it’s weird how her sprint goes unnoticed. And lastly, isn’t it weird how no one questions the basement when investigating the attack. Yeah the Blind Man hid Cindy’s body, but someone had to find the baster. If they didn’t find the baster, than that’s just crazy. Once you ignore all said flaws, you’ll still maintain an exhilarating experience when watching it. In conclusion, Don’t Breathe is an incredible film for showing viewers that the real world can be as scary as a supernatural one. If you crave for a film that cleverly expands a simple story, this is the one for you.
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