By Ian Bonham 

Don’t Breathe (15)

Staring : Stephen Lang, Jane Levy, Dylan Minette

Director : Fede Alvarez

Writers : Fede Alvarez, Rodo Sayagues

Duration : 1 hour, 28 minutes

Showing at Kings Bastion Leisure Cinemas from Friday 9^th September

Ghost House Pictures, the production company behind Don’t Breathe, have produced a few good scary movies over the last few years and here is another one! In fact this could be their strongest yet, as writer/director Fede Alvarez delivers a twisting turning tale that does get you holding your breath. The actors Jane Levy and Dylan Minette are superb at conveying the utter terror of their characters, and the brilliant Stephen Lang is terrifying.

The premise is fairly basic, and seen before. A gang of 3 ‘yoofs’ in Detriot are into petty crime and burglary. We get a little background to Jane Levy’s Rocky and Daniel Zovatto’s Money and can sort of understand the circumstances that have driven them to this. Slightly more difficult to justify are the actions of Dylan Minette’s Alex. His Father works in a home security company, so he’s not badly off, but his infatuation with Levy’s character leads him to steal security codes from his Father to give their crime spree an advantage.

Eventually they find out about a war veteran living nearby who uses Alex’s Dad’s security company and has recently been awarded $100,000 after his daughter was killed in a car accident. They decide this is a great ‘hit’ and carry out some surveillance. Very quickly they discover the war veteran is blind which causes Alex some serious conflict, but eventually he agrees to go along with it. Once they get into the house and disable the alarm, they soon discover that might have taken on more than they realise!

We have seen these burglars in trouble type movies before, but this is not Home Alone. It is a seriously tense and indeed at times frightening movie with director Alvarez twisting the usual tropes just enough to deliver something that feels quite fresh. A very clever use of night cameras at one point provides a serious amount of tension, which will have you on the edge of your seat. Later however there is a scene where we see Levy’s character in serious danger of rape, and that was a difficult scene, so be prepared for that if going to see this one.

Overall, Don’t Breathe is a quality little movie which doesn’t outstay it’s welcome. The tension is pretty constant and it’s nice they are not shocking with gore, movies I quite respect. I won’t say any more as there is a lot going on and a lot of twists and turns which you should enjoy in the cinema. If you enjoyed Lights Out, or even 10 Cloverfield Lane earlier this year (apart from that bonkers ending) you will get your money’s worth with Don’t Breathe.

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