In Don’t Breathe, three college aged burglars decided to break into a blind Vietnam veteran’s home for an easy score but soon discover, there’s nothing about it that is going to be easy.

Director: Fede Alvarez
Writers: Fede Alvarez, Rodo Sayagues
Stars: Stephen Lang, Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovatto

When I first saw the trailer for Don’t Breathe, I wasn’t that excited to see it. It didn’t look like a horror movie to me, though that’s what it was being sold as. It began to get good reviews and I still wasn’t too interested in seeing it. Then my son saw it with his wife and they enjoyed it. Said it was pretty good. My son isn’t the horror movie fan that I am. My daughter and I share the love of the genre but my son just never got into them. I didn’t know what to think about him liking it. I started to become more interested in it. I ordered the Blu-ray from Amazon, and here we are.

I watched it last night. I was about 20 minutes into watching the Pro Bowl competitions before the game and decided to pause that and watch this instead. I am glad I did. Turns out that I was right in the fact that it isn’t really a horror movie. It’s got a shit-ton of suspense. Don’t Breathe is the perfect title for this film. “Butt Pucker The Movie” might be another title they could have gone with it because there was a whole lot that happening as I watched it. I haven’t seen anything this suspenseful since Silence of the Lambs. In fact, this is more in line with that type of movie than actual horror movies. But, it is what it is as it and I highly recommend Don’t Breathe.

It starts off almost boring. It tries to add some depth to the two main characters and I wasn’t buying it. Jane Levy’s character Rocky plays a stereo-typical messed up teen/early 20 something from a stereo-typical white trash home. She gives a little speech to the other main character Alex, played by Dylan Minnette. It was all about her father leaving and how horrible her mother is. Her acting wasn’t the problem. She was terrific. The problem was that the film is trying to make me like her. We’ve already seen her break into a house and damage it for no reason as they went along with the burglary. So, I was like, here’s the part where they try to humanize these unlikable people. It didn’t make me give a shit about her character. At least it didn’t at first.

At the beginning of her little speech in the car while casing their next house to burglarize, I saw what she was doing. She wasn’t sharing her past with Alex because she cared about him. She was just telling a story to manipulate him. There was something she wanted from him and she was just using her past as tool to get what she wanted. As the story she told went on, it started to work on me a little. I started to soften, a little towards her. This was more about the writer than the actress. This was brilliantly written. I think what started out as manipulation turned into something deeper as the character continues to tell her story. It was very well written and acted.

I need to digress for a moment here and talk about Jane Levy. I’ve seen her in two films now. I recognized her name when they movie started but I didn’t recognize her until about 20 minutes into the film. She was the brunette lead in Evil Dead. She gave a hint of a look that I saw her give in the Evil Dead remake. She looked so different then. That level character acting amazes me. Some of the biggest stars are pretty much the same person in every movie. Stallone is basically, Stallone in every single movie he does. You know it’s Stallone. You know it’s Schwarzenegger. You know it’s Sean Connery. There’s nothing wrong with that. They are great at what they do. But, in my opinion, the best actors are the ones that can go from role to role and are almost unrecognizable. They seemed to just blend into the character they are portraying. It appears that Jane Levy is that good. I truly look forward to seeing her again. I just hope she doesn’t turn her back on the genre.

Come out to the coast, we’ll get together, have a few laughs…

Everyone’s performance in Don’t Breathe was good. Stephen “Look at those fucking guns” Lang was amazing in this. Dylan Minette as Alex, the stuck in the friendzone, friend of Rocky was also really well played. Then there was Dylan Zovatto who played Money, the 3rd person in the trio of burglars. I instantly didn’t like his character. I know people like him, I don’t like people him. I don’t care that deep down he may have a heart. I just can’t stand dipshits like him. The funny thing about that was seeing the special features. Dylan is nothing like the character he played. In real life, he looks like a 14-year-old. A really nice guy, it seems. Nothing like he’s douchey character. It was a pleasant surprise to see that he too wasn’t just being himself more or less but was actually acting. Becoming someone he is not. All around great acting in Don’t Breathe.

There’s not really any gore to speak of in Don’t Breathe. It’s not really needed and I should admit that it’s not really needed. This movie has so many other things going for it. I’ve already mentioned the suspense and the acting. But, the most surprising thing about Don’t Breathe to me were the twists and turns. You wouldn’t think going into this movie that there would any real twists. I mean, most of the movie takes place inside a two-story house with a basement. Going into this film, I wondered how they were going to make this movie last 88 minutes. Well, they did a great job of keeping it interesting. And, they did it without pissing the audience off. None of the character’s do anything terribly stupid.

If you’re looking for a good “horror” movie, checkout Don’t Breathe. Suspense, twists and turns, great acting, a lovable dog and a Turkey Baster. What more could anyone ask for?