Don't Breathe

I used to believe in Fede Alvarez a lot, then after Evil Dead sent him packing – and now I am cautiously taking him back. Because in Don't Breathe there is none of the expected gore or cheapness, except for that specific basement episode, but in terms of genre, surprisingly ambitious composition lies in this eerie building. This game with audience expectations, where my relationship to the characters repeatedly and significantly changes, has no equal. Combined with the natural progression of scares and an unbearably intense scene in absolute darkness, I willingly overlook a few moments where a viewer with a taste for finding plotholes could show a bit of mercy. (07/08/2017)

This is an intense rush that has such strong tension that I would have guessed that the film was from the old continent. However, Sam Raimi has sniffed out a distinctive talent on the other side of the ocean who wields a clear vision and rarely agrees to compromise, perhaps by trimming believability in favor of plot development. Yet Lang's tragic protagonist and the atmosphere that cuts under your skin reign supreme, not to mention the few minutes in "absolute darkness." 4 ½. (10/18/2016)

At last! A horror/thriller which doesn't send a bunch of students into the woods to die. It just sends three thieves to fight a blind war veteran. The film has a very decent plot, a great suspenseful atmosphere, and a fair amount of brutality and insemination. The only thing that didn't work for me was the attempt to convince me that if you steal to give your little sister a better life you are actually in the right. For me personally, the main good guy was the blind man who was just trying to defend his property from invasion by local raiders. I enjoyed the film from start to finish. (11/16/2016)

Pleasure. The American dream is dead and blind. Want to shoot a relevant horror movie today? Go to Detroit, the set pieces are free. Don't Breathe is not as sophisticated as It Follows, but its game with genre proprieties is incredibly masterful. Brilliant work with space, economical and ambivalent motivation of characters, amazing physiognomy of Stephan Lang, pleasantly full sound component, solid work with the motif of limited senses (although the film tweaks the perception of the blind man from time to time as needed)... everything I need to spend an intense 90 minutes in the dark. After the hollow remake of Evil Dead, Fede delivered the thoroughbred and healthy self-confident insemination that the genre needed in the same way a Rottweiler needs gossiping. P. S. Don't Breathe is an interesting response to Gran Torino. (09/09/2016)

A great genre exercise that excels at exactly what the given jewelry box needs, namely that for all the little ideas, suspenseful scenes, unexpected reversals, and overall intensity, you completely fail to perceive more than one logical barrier. Detroit is also starting to become my favorite horror destination after It Follows or Only Lovers Left Alive. Empty houses, empty streets, empty people, and the feeling that if you get lost you'll never be found again, all set against the backdrop of the hardscrabble fresh socio-economic history of the whole place. Suck it Blumhouse, this is how it's supposed to be. (12/26/2016)