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Don't Breathe
Score: 97%
Rating: R
Publisher: Sony Pictures Home
                  Entertainment

Region: A
Media: Blu-ray/1
Running Time: 88 Mins.
Genre: Horror/Thriller/Crime
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English -
           Audio Description Track, Spanish
           5.1 Dolby Digital

Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish

Features:
  • Deleted Scenes with Director's Commentary
  • No Escape
  • Creating the Creepy House
  • Meet the Cast
  • Commentary with Director Fede Alvarez, Co-Writer Rodo Sayagues and Actor Stephen Lang
  • Man in the Dark
  • The Sounds of Horror

Don't Breathe is a horror film brought to us by the classic team of Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert of Evil Dead fame, and the film was directed/co-written by Fede Alvarez and produced/co-written by Rodo Sayagues, both of whom did the incredible reboot of Evil Dead with Raimi and Tapert a few years back. I say all of this to let you know in advance that you are in for an incredible ride with Don't Breathe. It's not your average horror film, but it is a cautionary tale of the most intense type.

Rocky (Jane Levy, Evil Dead, Suburgatory), her boyfriend Money (Daniel Zovatto) and her best friend Alex (Dylan Minnette, Goosebumps, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Nikita) have been pulling off small robbery jobs using keys and codes Alex steals from his dad, who works at a security company. Rocky has a bad home life and longs to spirit her sweet little sister away from her drunk mother and Mom's creepy new boyfriend, while skeezy Money just wants to make cash and be gangsta'. Then there's Alex, who dreams of going to law school, but his driving force is his unrequited love for Rocky. When Money finds one final huge score that could take care of all of them and finance their new lives in California, Alex gets on board, if only to look out for Rocky, even though he feels a bit guilty when he discovers the man is completely blind.

The mark is a disabled Gulf War Vet (Stephen Lang, Beyond Valkyrie: Dawn of the Fourth Reich) whose daughter was run over by a wealthy girl a few years back and, as a result, he got a $300,000 settlement. Since they all live in Detroit and there are plenty of abandoned neighborhoods, one of which this guy happens to live in, it should be an easy robbery with no one around to call the cops. Easy peasy, right?

It all kicks off during the break-in when the locks on the house don't match up with the single key Alex stole from his dad's desk. This place is locked down like a fortress, complete with a snarling Rottweiler to boot, but once they find a tiny window and they make it inside, things aren't quite right. They begin quietly searching for the money, but when the Blind Man awakens and intercepts them, all hell breaks loose. This is not the easy mark they thought and nothing is as it first seemed. With one of their party down and the other two fighting for their lives in the playground of the Blind Man, who is far more capable and dangerous than any of them thought, can they make it out alive? More importantly, who are the good and bad guys in all of this? Seems like everyone is a little of both.

Don't Breathe, much like Evil Dead (2013), likes to push the envelope of creepy and unsettling, but in a brilliant and devious way. As the characters develop and the story unfolds, nothing is what it seems and you find yourself rooting for different people. The acting is unilaterally fantastic, from Stephen Lang as the creepy-as-hell blind badass that has been dealt a really crappy hand by life, to Jane Levy/Rocky as the bad girl who really just wants to save her little sister, to Dylan Minnette/Alex who desperately loves and wants to protect his friend, but struggles between the illegal acts they are committing and his desire for something better, to even Daniel Zovatto as the reprehensible Money, who just wants... well, money.

If you are looking for special features, you've come to the right place. There are numerous short featurettes covering everything from the scary freakin' house, to the cast, the Blind Man as a character, the pivotal dark basement scenes, and even the disturbing soundtrack. There are also 8 deleted scenes with commentary by Director Fede Alvarez (and I recommend you watch them without first, then with commentary, because they add a lot to the film), as well as an audio commentary with Director Alvarez, Co-Writer Rodo Sayagues and the Blind Man himself, Actor Stephen Lang.

Overall, I can't recommend Don't Breathe enough as a horror/thriller film for a broad audience. The concept is intriguing enough that we had two people watching it that would never normally watch a horror film, much less enjoy it this much. It's really good, has lots of twists and turns (even if you think you know it all from watching the trailer - trust me, you don't) and is just downright great. This one is worth watching multiple times, even if you know what is going to happen. It's beautifully written, acted, shot and directed. Highly recommended.



-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications
AKA Ashley Perkins
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