Review: ‘Southside With You’ a charming Obama first-date flick.
Blind victim takes on a trio of teen burglars in his darkened house
This has been a banner year for horror films — including “Green Room,” “Lights Out” and “The Conjuring 2.”
Like “Lights Out,” Fede Alvarez’s new thriller “Don’t Breathe” revolves around an ingenious concept — a team of teen burglars robbing the house of a blind man, who turns out not to be nearly as helpless as they believed.
The three white teen burglars live in a downtrodden Detroit wasteland, where home-invasion burglaries seem the only way out. Because of their lack of options, they feel somewhat justified in stealing from the “haves.”
But they have other motivations, too. Rocky (Jane Levy) is desperate to make an escape, with her sister, from their abusive mother. She’s backed up by her wildcard thug of a boyfriend, Money (Daniel Zovatto), and another friend Alex (Dylan Minette) — the brains of the operation, who also has a crush on the unavailable Rocky.
Before long, they learn about a Gulf War vet (Steven Lang) who’s sitting on a large cash settlement from a lawsuit for
his daughter’s wrongful death. She was hit by a teenage driver.
It’s only after they’ve chosen him that they discover he’s blind. But they go ahead with the burglary, only to find they’ve grossly underestimated the target — in terms of both physical capabilities and desire for retribution.
Director Alvarez and his screenwriting partner, Rodo Sayagues, have devised some incredibly suspenseful set pieces involving the teens’ attempts to exploit his blindness.
They don’t realize, however, that he knows every floorboard creak in his crumbling house and is unwilling to part with any of his possessions or allow a single misdeed to go unpunished.
Alvarez masterfully employs silence and sounds throughout the film to re-create the sensory experience of the target. And the audience witnesses close brushes in tight hallways and stifled screams, as the invaders attempt to hide without attracting the owner’s attention.
We see the teens’ dilated pupils as they bumble through a pitch-black basement that levels the playing field.
The tension never lets up, and the shocking story twists must be experienced to be believed.
There aren’t any good guys in “Don’t Breathe,” though many viewers will align themselves with Rocky and Alex as they struggle for their lives.
Yet most will feel some empathy for the blind man, too, a disabled veteran protecting his home and some dark secrets hidden inside it.
Ultimately, it’s the starkly realistic setting and newsworthy themes that make this spooky tale so bone-chilling.