Directed by Fede Alvarez
Starring Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovatto and Stephen Lang
Let's run down the various "eras" of this great, grand horror genre in the 21st century. And boy, have they been some prestigious ones. We started off the '00s still in the post-ironic Scream-inspired teen flicks with lots of hot actors and witty dialogue. Then we got a massive load of Japan-style ghost thrillers in the wake of The Ring. From there came the double-dose of suck that was torture porn and every single slasher film from the '70s on getting the remake bastardization to the point where we haven't had any movies with Michael, Jason or Freddy in six years now, although (supposedly) there is a new F13 coming out in the not-too-distant future, but I digress. And, finally, we had more ghost movies brought to us by James Wan and all of his Wan-ton (HA!) followers, a trend that I actually LIKED at first but grew tired of in due time. It should also be noted that this can be said for ALL of the above listed trends!
Folks, Don't Breathe is just the movie that we've been waiting for to break us out of these doldrums. Presented by Sam Raimi's Ghost House production company, this film was directed by Fede Alvarez, the guy responsible for the Ghost House Evil Dead remake. This dude intentionally went out of his way to craft something that (a) wasn't a remake, and (b) did not contain a single supernatural aspect. Couple that with some absolutely kickass execution of its amazingly simple premise and you've got a slam-bang thriller that, while it isn't QUITE up to the poster's bost that this is THE BEST AMERICAN HORROR MOVIE IN 20 YEARS, I would say that it's the best in, oh, maybe five. If it sounds like I did not study or research that last statement in the least bit, you're a very astute reader. I haven't seen his version of The Evil Dead, but if this flick is anything to go by, Alvarez is somebody to follow from this point forward. Enough waxing. Let's get to the flick.
What we have here is a study in simplicity. The four actors listed above are pretty much all we get for the VAST majority of the running time, and the first ten pages of Alvarez' script introduces us to three of them. Meet Rocky (Jane Levy), quick-witted female thief who is flanked by two dudes of varying morality. There's her boyfriend Money (Daniel Zovatto), the kind of dude who has a punchable face and is given dialogue to match. And then there's Alex (Dylan Minnette), the trio's requisite "nice guy" who is able to help out in all kinds of ways due to the fact that his dad is some kind of security chief with passkeys to every house in town. I honestly can't remember what city this movie took place in, but it isn't a big one. All three want to escape this deadend life and need a big score...and that's when the big tip comes in.
Said big tip is a doozy. The kind of thing ripe for the picking for three young kids just trying to make it out of their humdrum lives in Jerkwater, USA (thank you to Colonel Sam Trautman for that one). It seems like there's a single, solitary ex-soldier living all by himself with no neighbors. Said soldier is in possession of $300,000 in cash after a wrongful death settlement involving his only daughter. After some lovely bits of character building and making the characters of Rocky and Alex more likable, they head out to the house. And then all bets are off.
See, the soldier - named Norman Nordstrom in the characters' dialogue but known only as "The Blind Man" in the script - is just that. A soldier who is blind. But this dude is superhuman in pretty much every other aspect, and it doesn't take long for the home invasion to go wrong and Money to wind up dead. Oh yeah, spoiler alert. The blindness angle works to this flick's advantage, as it's a little bit easier to buy the Blind Man's ability to track these people down with some Rusev-level savagery. Stephen Lang, though, makes this character COMPLETELY believable. This is one of the best horror movie performances I've seen in quite some time. He doesn't have much dialogue, but when he does speak, it counts. His ACTIONS, though, are something else, and this character is just a badass, along with being completely detestable.
From here, the movie turns into a very cleverly-paced and plotted game of cat and mouse, with the Blind Man boarding up his house to prevent the two remaining thieves from escaping. There are a few close calls with death, but for a few brief moments, it looks like Rocky and Alex have managed to find themselves in a secluded part of the house. And, amazingly, this movie is about to throw us a major curveball as to who this guy really is and what motivates him that makes the final trimester of this movie some pretty sick/awesome stuff.
The three longtime readers of this here blog know that no movie is perfect, and there were a couple things here that prevent me from QUITE going the full Dave Meltzer New Japan match verbal orgasm on this one. For starters - the character of Money. Just, the whole character. I don't fault Daniel Zovatto in the least bit, as I'm sure he performed the lines and actions he was written with plenty of chutzpah. But he's just SUCH a prick, and not in the good way. You know how I spoiled his death earlier? Don't be mad - the second this guy is onscreen, he screams "KILL ME" from the word go. In addition to this doofus, we also get the return of a current cool trend in many films that I hope dies a death sooner than later, with the director showing us a brief scene from the END of the film before launching us into the beginning. Which wouldn't be a big deal if it didn't spell out some major plot spoilers for us, except it kinda does. So word of warning there.
/ end brief bitching
I suppose I should also say a few words about Jane Levy, the lead actress in this film. Believe it or not, the Pervy Paragraph is getting a one-week reprieve. However, I can't say enough good about the job she did in this flick. She's tough, resourceful, and likable as Rocky, and I really felt for her character as the movie built up to its ultimate climax. She also starred in the Evil Dead remake, but again, I haven't seen it - having nothing but this to go on, she's really good at what she does. So I'm quite certain that she's destined for non-stardom hell for the remainder of her career.
I also need to confess that I didn't really find this film scary in the traditional way, meaning that I was able to go to bed afterwards and sleep like a baby. But I DID think about parts of it the next day. It's not a movie that's going to make you piss yourself in terror, but it IS powerful and disturbing. And there is one scene in particular that is GUARANTEED to make you gasp and recoil in what could potentially happen. I'll leave that up for you to discover.
*** 1/2 out of ****. This flick was creative, original and boasted a pair of tour-de-force performances from Jane Levy and Stephen Lang. And if this one launches a new era of "human monster" movies, I promise I won't be sick of it for at least two years.
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