Blind fury reigns in ‘Don’t Breathe’

“Don’t Breathe”, the new thriller hitting screens this week, is a film built on one hell of a Hitchcockian premise: Trying to rob a blind man (Stephen Lang, of “Avatar” fame) who isn’t as helpless as he seems. From that simple hook, director Fede Alvarez (who co-wrote this with his “Evil Dead” remake collaborator Rodo Sayagues) seizes hold of his viewers’ expectations before utterly destroying them for the next two hours.

If you don’t want to know anything else, do yourself a favor by turning your device off, heading to the nearest cinema, and seeing this thing before anyone spoils it for you. Believe me, the degree to which you’ll enjoy this film relies on how little you know going in—the last thing you need is some review telling you what to expect.

Produced by Sam Raimi’s Ghosthouse Pictures, “Don’t Breathe” premiered at South by Southwest in March of this year, meeting with rave reviews and picking up a distributor in the process. Now, local audiences will have the chance to see what all the fuss was about.

As the Blind Man (seriously, that’s his credit), Lang steals the show, portraying his visually-impaired war veteran like nothing so much as a shark in his element. What his character lacks in sight, the ridiculously ripped 64-year-old’s predatory movements and physical intensity make up for it in a manner that is altogether unsettling.

As the film's Blind Man, Stephen Lang projects intensity with every measured movement when his house is invaded by three young thieves. All photos from Sony Pictures Entertainment

The three teens who break into the house are pretty much non-factors as, from the onset, you kind of want them to get caught; make no mistake, these are criminals, and no matter what sort of half-baked sob story Alvarez tacks on will make them (well, one of them, anyway) anywhere near sympathetic.

The female lead, Rocky (Jane Levy, of TV’s “Suburgatory”, as well as the aforementioned 2013“Evil Dead” remake), is the closest we have to a protagonist, having pinned all her hopes on this “one last score” so she can put her life of crime behind her once and for all. Accompanying her are her hotheaded boyfriend—who serves precisely one purpose in the script—and Alex, the boy hopelessly in love with Rocky.

Rocky (Jane Levy) opens the door to pull one last robbery before retiring in 'Don't Breathe'.

When things inevitably go from bad to worse for the thieves, any thoughts of viewer schadenfreude go right out the window as the film takes a severe left into its second half. Depraved and sadistic, it is at this point that “Don’t Breathe” crosses over from being a thriller and becomes something more akin to a 70’s exploitation flick. And you know what? There’s not a thing wrong with that, and Alvarez is smart enough to let the strength of his material carry the proceedings.

Indeed, aside from a couple of overly-showy camera moves designed to establish the layout of the house (as well as bludgeon the viewer into submission with its blatant Chekov’s Gun reveals), the film succeeds by its reliance on plants and payoffs, combined with  good use of geography and suspense for its scares, rather than jump cuts and loud noises.

This isn’t to say that Alvarez’ handling is flat; while his past work proved he could direct jump scares and gore, “Don’t Breathe” sees him introduce, maintain, and ramp up tension to such nerve-shredding levels that the film’s title could easily double as the audience’s viewing instructions.

Produced in an age of cookie-cutter sequels, reboots and remakes, “Don’t Breathe” refreshes by being a taut, viscerally-nasty piece of work that isn’t afraid to go for the audience’s throat. While it may not be enough to redeem the near-total waste of time that was the 2016 summer movie season, it sure as hell closes it off on a good note. —KG, GMA News