Don't Breathe (2016)

*** out of ****

After a great deal of time off while dealing with some personal business, Great Big C's movie blog is back. And starting back up with a very nice piece of business in its own right.

“Don't Breathe” is another one of those happy surprises – it looks going in like it's going to be another run-of-the-mill scare-fest like so many being churned out these days, and it turns out to be a taut, suspenseful little gem with many twists and turns that keep you deeply involved and on the edge of your seat. Jane Levy is Rocky, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who makes money by robbing houses with her boyfriend Money (Daniel Zovato) and their friend Alex (Dylan Monette). Alex's father works for a security company, and Alex uses Dad's computer data to select houses and bypass their security systems. Money is clearly a jackass, and Alex has a crush on Rocky, and it seemed these things would become a vital part of the plot. Luckily the film stays away from these generic storylines and they play a very small part in it.

Alex finds in Dad's database a house in urban Detroit, in an nearly abandoned neighbourhood, whose owner has received a seven figure settlement in a wrongful-death suit involving his deceased daughter. Since then he has added an expensive security system, and the three reason that he keeps a lot of that money at the house.  While casing the place, they also find that he is a war veteran who has been blinded in the line of duty. What robbery could be any easier?

Upon breaking in and attempting to anesthetize the blind owner, they get on with the robbery. Unfortunately for them, he is aroused by their noise and catches them in the act. The owner decides to fight back rather than allow himself to be robbed, and the movie takes off from there like a runaway train. The tension is absolutely wonderful.

Whereas you start out with a great deal of sympathy for the blind man, the twist and turns of the plot end up showing that he's not a very nice guy, and all you want is for the robbers to escape with their lives. Most of the time this seems an impossibility. Director Fede Alvarez, whose only previous feature film was the absolutely horrible and trashy remake of “The Evil Dead” (2013) has made a quantum leap forward with this film. Whereas his earlier effort was only meant to shock and disgust, this film build real suspense, and despite not being a horror film, achieves horror-film levels of fright. I'm a pretty seasoned watcher of scary movies, and this one had me far more ready to bounce off the walls than anything I've seen since “It Follows” (2014). And like that film, this one needed no CGI, special effects or massive production – it is a simple story, told effectively and pretty much over-achieves on all it's objectives.

It's not going to win any awards, but it's a tremendously enjoyable, tense movie that will press any movie-goer's anxiety levels through the roof. Very highly recommended