Hits and misses but watchable

Rating: 7/10 (5 November 2016)

Liked: Acting, premise, pacing, violence, twist, plot, atmosphere.
Not Liked: Several glaring inconsistencies, motivations, character development.
I stumbled over a reference to Don't Breathe in a Youtube comments section regarding Detroit's suburban housing death spiral. After reading 3 reviews I decided to watch it (mainly due to the 7 stars rating at this time). If I'd known Sam Raimi was one of the producers I would have automatically watched it, but I only found this out at the end of the movie.
The film certainly has Raimi's touch so you know you'll be entertained. Give it a go just for this value alone. There's been better and worse films with this type of premise. The best one I EVER saw was PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS. God, that's a hard one to beat.
Don't Breathe is well paced and decently acted. This is a problem for me as my expectations rise as I watch but I'm less forgiving when they aren't met.
Don't Breathe is an OK movie but once again I blame the writing and producing (sorry Sam) for its shortcomings. When making a movie about people who rob houses, they could be either somewhat likable and potentially forgivable OR you need to portray them as human garbage. Thieves who target a blind man who has recently lost his daughter in the unsubstantiated hope that he has bags of cash stashed away have few redeemable traits in my opinion. I was already hoping Money would be killed after the first few scenes where, after breaking into a home, he isn't satisfied with merely robbing them. He vandalises the house and urinates on the floor as well. He is portrayed as a scumbag, and that's fine, it should help us cheer if his eyeballs got impaled (that doesn't happen but it should have).
Alex is a frightened, hesitant, irritating little dweeb. He doesn't fit their grouping at all. I assume he's so in love with Rocky that he'll do anything for her. This really wasn't explored properly and would have explained some of his motivations later after being shot and beaten. Coming back for more instead of getting the hell out of there when he had the chance seemed unlikely. If the producers were under time penalties (it's an 88 minute movie after all) competent writing can bring these idea's across quickly and strongly. But all the good 'filler'or development writing may have been cut to improve the pacing. You never know.
I wanted to like or feel sympathy for Rocky. Her life is pretty crap as shown from one short, rather cliché scene. Trailer park slut mum, poor little surrogate daughter syndrome thing that's going on makes her out as some sort of shining light. But mostly she comes across as a cold-hearted money hungry bitch who's willing to let other people get hurt as long as she gets the cash.
The Blind Man. Gee, he's an amazingly effective actor for a guy who has almost no lines. I was wondering if he'd be shown as having super-sensitive senses and reflexes but he's played pretty straight. The first murder he performs is definitely believable as he is trained to kill and still well muscled. And his motivation is explained as he's a grief stricken parent, blind, probably suffering from PTSD and living in a lonely wasteland. A streak of insanity and rage is understandable, and should have been used to greater effect.
Some stuff just didn't make sense. Inconsistencies like the following take away a measure of enjoyment for me as I dwell on them. Alex and Rocky get trapped in a room with bars on the windows so Rocky has to escape through a vent while Alex barricades the door. Then Alex falls out the window??? The cops don't discover the torture chamber in the basement???
And when Rocky gets away at the end I'm not content that she deserved to escape. And I felt very conflicted by the 'shock' ending which was tacked on for no particular reason and would have raised fewer questions if they'd left it out. I really didn't see why it's so terrifying that The Blind Man is still alive. Did she think an old blind dude was going to hunt her down? Weird.
Mainly I just hope someone let the bloody dog out of the car boot.