DON'T BREATHE (2016) Movie Review

Don't Breathe stars Stephen Lang, Jane Levy (Castle Rock, Suburgatory), Dylan Minnette (13 Reasons Why) and a few other stray but necessary cast members to help fill out this crazy house heist horror film.

The film is directed and co-written by Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead and a few random short films). For what seems like a first-time feature film debut for a director, this was a pretty decent turn out! The film's producers included Sam Raimi & Rob Tapert (both whose credits include Ash vs. Evil Dead, & the Starz Spartacus TV franchise), to name a few.

The plot goes as follows:

"Hoping to walk away with a massive fortune, a trio of thieves break into the house of a blind man who isn't as helpless as he seems."

The film takes place in a destitute part of Detroit, where these three kids are spending their free time ripping off the better homes throughout the town. But then they find what seems like the easiest mark possible, a blind man who won a financial settlement, and is known for keeping his cash in his house.

How hard can that be, rIght?

Well, with this blind man being an Army Vet, he has skills!

Here's the other thing...  Any time Stephen Lang is in a film, he either plays a bad-ass bad guy, or a bad-ass good guy. So when the kids are casing his house, and I see that the blind man is played by Lang, I'm thinking the kids have to just pass this place up and find a nice retirement home to raid. I'm mean seriously!

So these three kids think they have everything plotted out, and the moment they show up, if it's not one thing, then then the other that starts to go awry. Small things, but none-the-less, their day went from hopeful, to maybe to a crap storm of trouble.

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To be honest, I came into this film knowing nothing so it was a bit of a pleasure to watch it with zero anticipation and let the story just unfold before me. I went from hating the three kids because of their nefarious activities, to having a bad night, to well, what develops in the third act of the film.

Overall, the film s starts a bit aimless but by act two, this viewer was engaged enough to want to see where it went from there, and act two brings on quite the set of surprises that totally turn the tables on how you feel about everyone in the film.

No, seriously.

Had I seen this film in the theaters, I would have been pleased to have spent the money on this film in theaters, so if you get a chance to catch this tension-filled film, I think you will enjoy the time spent.

And yes, Stephen Lang delivers, so fans of the actor won't be disappointed!

And yes, there's a sequel slated for a 2019 release, but I won't tell you anything more. That might spoil things.

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