A very tense and progressive modern horror film

Rating: 7/10 (15 September 2016)

Don't Breathe
"You would be surprised what a man is capable of once he realizes there is no god." - The Blind Man.
A very tense and progressive modern horror film, which I enjoyed this film very much for several reasons.
The first I would say that it has a unique narrative in which you don't really know who's side is the right one, if either are. The film is about 3 young adults who are going to break into a blind man's home and steal his $300,000 left to him. So immediately you think you are on the side of the villains. But once things get going the morality shifts and changes throughout giving lots of twists and turns and so you don't really know where the film is going despite it being based completely in one place.
The 2nd reason I liked this film was the camera work, it was quite experimental it seemed because of the unique shots and the ways they were captured, for example when the kids first broke in there was a sequence in which they were all looking around on the 1st floor with the camera moving from one character to another in one long continuous segment. The colour grading was gritty but beautiful giving a mostly green tint overall which could possibly suggest envy because the blind man has what these kinds do not which is money but the kids have sight, youth and hope which he does not. It could also symbolise the old famous 'It's not easy being green' expression as they are in his territory which is the only place he does not feel banished from or unwelcome. But whatever the reason for this vibrantly asserted colour it was quite nice on the eyes.
I liked the characters to an extent despite them not being particularly likable. None of the characters in this film have much to like about them but the film did not dwell too much on their back story it sealed up what they are about in about 10 minutes and got right to the nitty gritty which I think was a good idea.
To me the core of this movie was about the suspense and the morality, it was very tense at times where you cannot tell what is going to happen and who is going to strike next, shifting the roles of protagonist and antagonist frequently, and if I am honest I was routing for both sides and neither throughout, which was a fascinating experience because this was a completely different take on the house invasion theme. One aspect of the story I did not think was fully developed was the story of the 'ladybug tattoo'. This could have been more meaningful to the story and the character of Rocky but in the end did not seem to have much point to it.
I give this modern, unique, suspense horror a 7.5 out of 10.