Don't Breathe

As a fan of good horror movies, I have a hard time finding good modern horror movies among those that try to be scary but fail altogether. Then I heard of Don't Breathe from a friend who had tickets to an advance screening of it and looked at the trailer to see what's involved. The night of the screening I went in confident that I wouldn't be impressed with this horror movie and at the end, I actually found myself filled with hope that the genre still has some occasional wonders that most flicks of the genre can't beat.

Plot: The premise of this story is relatively simple: three thieves break into a house of an old blind Army veteran to rob him of the money he possesses but end up regretting the decision once they encounter him during the attempt to do so. There are details about a few characters involved that are obvious to remember ultimately come back later in the plot. The plot has a some extra layers to the story,  including a plot twist that increases the tension involved. The story itself isn't anything big but small enough that every other factor of Don't Breathe makes it a great movie to watch.

Characters: There are only 4 main characters involved but only 1 of them is scary enough to not mess with. The casting choices for Don't Breathe is very on spot on with the performances. Especially Stephen Lang as the blind man. To those of you who have seen Marvel's Daredevil on Netflix, he's basically Stick (the main characters mentor) from that show and one rule in regards to that is don't mess with him! He does an excellent job with his character reacting the way he does in the movie, especially considering the plot details that reveals itself later on. And as for the actors cast as the thieves, they can portray dealing with the motivations of their thieving to being scared of what the blind man will do to them with enough energy in their attempt to survive the ordeal they find themselves in as they try to escape.

Suspense: As this is a horror suspense movie, one may expect a lot of scares to come out. For me, I'm pretty difficult to scare and this movie isn't necessarily scary at all. That, however, doesn't mean it's not a great horror movie. It relies more on the suspense and intensity of the environment and characters involved to make it an enjoyable thriller. There is one scene in particular that perfectly captures all of that and to those of you who have seen it, you know what I'm talking about! The way it uses the sound of the environment in one of those hide and don't be spotted kind of flicks works like a charm in this situation. There isn't any crazy blood crazy gore as one may expect in Don't Breathe. If someone dies, they just simply get killed off in a manner appropriate with the weapon used in the act.

Overall Consensus: While not a big scary spectacle other horror wannabes, Don't Breathe succeeds through its intense situation portrayed well through its simple limited environment, performances from the main cast, and suspense of sound. ⭑⭑⭑⭑ 🍿

Possible reasons to go watch it: If you are a horror movie fan and want to feel scared for the main characters. If you want to see a movie with an old blind man as an antagonist. If you enjoy a simple horror movie that doesn't use anything supernatural gimmicks that don't work as well in modern times compared to the good old horror movies. If you enjoy horror movies that don't use any grotesque gore that modern horror movies have utilized.

Possible reasons to avoid it: If you are easily scared of any/or horror and suspense movies.  If you don't like horror movies that use a hide-and-don't-get-noticed by a killer aspect. If you prefer very gory movies rather than horror movies with less gore involved.