Reviews

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  ★★★★ review by Todd Gaines on Letterboxd

  For me, sound is a vital reason why I enjoy horror movies. From John Carpenter's Halloween to present day movies such as It Follows and The Guest, sound can make or break a movie. Don't Breathe has a nice sound, but it's the lack of sound at times, that brings the house down.

  Kids, don't break into houses. Nothing ever good comes from it. I thought the trailer gave too much of the plot away. I was dead wrong. It would be criminal for me to discuss more of the plot. All I'll say is there's a scene as memorable as American History X's curb stomp.

  If you've seen The Hard Way, you know Stephen Lang is one of the most underrated baddies. In Don't Breathe, he proves he's also one of the most underrated actors, period. Lang is the movie's acting glue, and his performance will stick with you for a long time.

  I like it when I can't make up my mind who to cheer for. I went back and forth a few times, and I'm not sure if I'm 100% pleased with the ending. The kids all impressed me, but all of them are guilty of stupidity. Both Jane Levy's Rocky and Dylan Minnette's Alex had some outstanding moments in the dark. 

  Fede Alvarez directed. He also directed the Evil Dead reboot. I like this a lot more than Evil Dead. He shoots Dirty Detroit, Michigan like a pro. All of the shots are well filmed, and the movie is edited near flawlessly. The dialogue is minimum, but the script is tight. 

  Don't Breathe is very brutal at times. It doesn't rely on jump scares. It scares the audience with pure real terror. What you see, could happen. This is smart horror at its most intelligent. Seeing on a loud big screen helps, and I do hope I still enjoy on a home video rewatch. Yes, this is the real deal. Go see today!!

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  ★★★★★ review by Lucy on Letterboxd

  I REALLY DIDN'T BREATHE ONCE THE ENTIRE TIME

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  ★★★★★ review by Lucy on Letterboxd

  “i know what’s in there, and i ain’t leaving without it”

  impeccably made. there are at least a dozen sequences in this that are worth more than most of the horror movies i’ve ever seen. a creaky floorboard caused my heart to skip a beat, and then i was genuinely locked in a state of terror until the credits rolled. and this happens every time i watch it. unreal

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  ★★★★★ review by Arielrocks5 on Letterboxd

  The thing in horror that scares me more than anything isn't blood, isn't monsters, and isn't even people. It's silence. The feeling of dread you gain from looking out into an empty room after hearing a faint nose, quietly moving towards it in the hopes it was just a wonky pipe or a loose board in the floor, or looking out into the pitch blackness late at night, getting up for a glass of water, stumbling around looking for a light switch.

  A lot of horror films (especially nowadays) tend to use this, but very rarely is it done to more of an effect than of building tension and paying off with either a jumpscare or some fake out scare, often followed up by a loud sting sound (something found in the worst of Blumhouse's output and sadly the recent adaptation of Stephen King's "It", which I still like a lot, I should add). Hell, even the recent darling "A Quiet Place", ironically enough, couldn't escape this trend and suffered greatly because of it.

  Because of this trend, and the director/co-writer's previous effort being the overblown remake of Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead", I figured his second effort behind the camera would suffer the same fate as I randomly put it on because I was in the mood for a horror film, since the last one I watched was weeks ago......

  I was wrong.

  Dead wrong.

  The moment these people break into this dude's house, it's not only clear that this movie is not messing around, but is going to be taking every advantage it can to get you to feel the need to hold your breathe as much as these robbers. While there is a score, it doesn't overbear the central concept of staying quiet to not alert this blind psychopath, focusing more on ambient tricks and at times, ramping up during scenes where the tension is broken instead of building towards the breaking point.

  Doing this not only allows the tension to feel all the richer, but also allows moments where ANY form of sound is heard could mean death or someone getting closer to getting hurt, not to mention allowing one of the rare time where Jumpscares aren't just unpredictable and could happen anytime, but allows them to come from as basic of actions as someone simply walking into the room, only hearing their footsteps.

  At first it may seem like this is the only thing it has to offer, but as soon as things start spiraling out of control for all parties involved, is when it shows it has more up it's sleeve, leaving plenty of moments that left me genuinely scared and disgusted (people who have seen this know exactly what I'm talking about). All of this is backed up by excellent acting all around and some of the sleekest and smartest direction in terms of capturing space I've seen in a long time.

  I know my rating may seem a bit much, but any movie that leaves me with a reaction as strong as genuinely screaming at points and hugging onto my pillow for dear life, is more than worthy of it. If you haven't seen this yet, do yourself a favor, and check it out.

  Be warned, though, it gets nasty.

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  ★★★★★ review by Lucy on Letterboxd

  I CAN'T OXYGENATE

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