Breaking In is Easy, But Not Breaking Out

From left: Daniel Zovatto, Jane Levy, and Dylan Minnette
in "Don't Breathe"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

Whenever you watch a horror film or psychological thriller with a main character who has a physical handicap, you wonder how this person will navigate through the menacing events of the film.  Some examples include James Stewart as a wheelchair-bound photographer in “Rear Window,” Audrey Hepburn as a young blind woman in “Wait Until Dark,” James Caan as an injured and bedridden author in “Misery,” and Kate Siegel as a deaf author in the Netflix film “Hush,” which was released back in the spring.

Now, director Fede Alvarez does this in his horror thriller “Don’t Breathe.”  In what’s a step-up from his “Evil Dead” remake, which was his feature debut, Alvarez delivers a film that thrives on constant suspense, a simple, yet effective story, and skillful camerawork, setting an example of other mainstream horror films to follow.

Rocky (Jane Levy) is a young woman living in Detroit with her little sister, neglectful mother, and her mother’s boyfriend.  She hopes to leave with her sister someday and give her a better life in California, but needs the money to do so.  Her friend, Money (Daniel Zovatto), informs her and their other friend, Alex (Dylan Minnette), of a blind veteran (Stephen Lang) living nearby who has thousands of dollars stashed in his house.  Thinking it will be an easy robbery, the trio breaks into the man’s house.  They soon realize he’s not as defenseless as they anticipated, and when he traps them in his home, the robbers must do what they can to evade his wrath.

While the story doesn’t allow for much character development, the performances are fine for what the material requires.  However, Jane Levy is given a little more to work with as we learn about some of her background and see her home life, all of which helps us get more invested in her character as she places herself in this dangerous task.  With her performance being the best part of Alvarez’s “Evil Dead” remake and doing an equally good job here, Levy shows she could have a great career in horror movies, and should also be given more film roles in general.

The cinematography by Pedro Luque makes wonderful use of the dark.  He’s able to create considerable amount of tension with minimal lighting, while still keeping the main setting lit up enough so we can see what’s going on.  In one scene during the film’s second act, Lang’s character follows the robbers into his basement and turns off the lights, plunging his targets into darkness.  The film then switches to something resembling black-and-white night vision, and we’re put on edge as the robbers can’t see what’s around them, yet we can.

Although the screenplay by Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues carries a central premise akin to Terence Young’s 1967 psychological thriller, “Wait Until Dark,” the similarities end there.  And, despite the story mostly being a cat-and-mouse chase, it still offers a couple of surprises along the way to keep the concept from getting repetitive as it plays out.

While Alvarez steeped his “Evil Dead” remake in tiresome amounts of blood and gore, he exhibits a lot more restraint in his latest film and brings us the type of horror movie of which I would like to see him make more.  He’s able to keep the suspense going throughout the runtime and gets the most out of the film’s primary location, keeping us guessing as to what shocks are hiding around each corner and in every room.  After viewing “Don’t Breathe,” I can’t wait to see what Alvarez does to scare us next. 

Final Grade: B+