FILM REVIEW: DON’T BREATHE (15)

The twist will leave you breathless.

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again – many trailers give too much away these days!

You often feel like you’ve seen the entire movie before even going into the screening. This was certainly the case with Don’t Breathe – so avoid as much footage as possible beforehand to get the most out of this.

This latest horror to hit cinemas – which has been a massive US Box Office hit across the Atlantic – is the brainchild of Fede Alvarez, the director of the 2013 Evil Dead remake.

It focuses around three young robbers – Rocky (Jane Levy, who also starred in Alvarez’s reboot), Alex (Goosebump’s Dylan Minnette) and Money (It Follows’ Daniel Zovatto) – who usually steal a little at a time so that they can’t be convicted of grand larceny if they’re ever caught.

However, once they learn that a local blind Iraq War veteran (Avatar’s Stephen Lang) may be sitting on a $300,000 cash settlement, they see this as an opportunity that can’t be ignored – as it’s their chance to move on to bigger and better things.

On paper, a blind and retired widower is an easy target – but that certainly isn’t the case. “Just because he’s blind, it doesn’t mean he’s a [add expletive] saint” says Money. Little did he know at the time, that comment was quite the understatement. The unnamed man has dark secrets hidden within his home and once he realises there are trespassers on his property, he’ll do all that he can to make sure they don’t get out alive.

The most interesting thing about this horror-chiller is that it doesn’t follow the usual formula of a home invasion movie. Usually, we’d be rooting for the homeowner while hoping that the criminals get what’s coming to them. That’s not the case here.

The problem is, although you’re rooting for the robbers, you don’t quite care about them enough to fear for their safety. Much like with the filmmakers’ predecessor (Evil Dead), although it had genuine scares whilst remaining entertaining enough throughout, it focused around half-baked characters. In this case, with their motivation to rob the man mostly being boredom, I didn’t particularly care if they died or not.

Perhaps I’m nit-picking. After all, Don’t Breathe generally features everything you could ask for from a horror film – even though it’s becoming a saturated market – including the aforementioned unexpected twist.

It’s certainly good enough to warrant the price of your cinema ticket, and even though it’s not the modern classic many critics are making it out to be – there are still moments that will leave you gasping for breath.

Mikey Clarke [youtube id=”76yBTNDB6vU” width=”600″ height=”350″]

Genre: Horror

Cast: Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovatto, Emma Bercovici & Stephen Lang

Running Time: 1 hr 28mins

Written/Directed by: Fede Alvarez

See Don’t BreathE and much more at Showcase Cinema, Peterborough. Visit www.showcasecinemas.co.uk for the latest up-to-date show times. You can also join the chat on Twitter @showcasecinemas or on Facebook by searching for ‘Showcase Cinemas’.