Who's there?.......

Rating: 8/10 (11 September 2016)

Sometimes the most simple premise can turn into one tense cinematic experience, and although Don't Breathe could have gone either way in the quality stakes, it makes for one of the most intense trips to the cinema you'll have this year.
Despite the fact it goes on its head in the final third....
Rocky, a young woman wanting to start a better life for her and her sister in California, begs her best friend Alex to take part in the robbery of a house owned by a wealthy blind man with her boyfriend Money.
But when the blind man turns out to be a more than he seems, the group must find a way to escape his home before they become his newest victims.
I had my preconceptions about this film, after all, it's from the director of the abysmal Evil Dead remake, and just of late, Raimi has let himself down in the producer stakes (I'm still trying to forget that dreadful Poltergeist remake).
But it was an interesting premise, and the trailer made it look like a hybrid of Panic room and the final ten minutes of Silence Of The Lambs.
But the main reason why the film works so well is because it doesn't mess around getting to the reason we are paying to see the movie. It isn't on for more than twenty minutes when we are in the blind mans house.
And that's the location for the rest of the film. And it's not a house of horrors like some films would contain. Nope, it's just a man with a very particular set of skills, hunting down people who are trying to take from him.
So who is the hero and villain of the piece? Are we supposed to show empathy for Rocky because her mother gave her such a bad childhood? She's a criminal plain and simple, and no matter the reasons for her crimes, it's still the wrong thing to do.
This is probably why the film takes a turn for the more sinister in the third act, after all, the makers can't have us rooting for 'The Boogeyman' of the piece. If this added element wasn't added, he would just be a person protecting his property.
And at one point, the film literally made me heave, thanks to a simple kitchen utensil you use to baste things with (and I'm pretty tolerant with all things gross).
My only complaint was that it does that stupid trick of lingering on an object for too long and basically saying to the audience "Hey Kids!!! Remember this item, because you can bet your bottom dollar it'll be used later at a crucial moment".
But other than that, it's the most fun I've had at the cinema this year.