Excellent

Rating: 8/10 (11 October 2016)

Rocky, Alex, and Money are a trio of young house robbers. Rock and Money are a couple while Alex has a crush on Rocky. Rocky, her daughter, and Money have dreams of moving from Detroit to...where else...California, it's not like there any other states in the union... Alex is key to their operation. His dad works at a home security company and has files on the homes and for some reason even keys, which Alex then uses to break into the homes. He also knows about the law and the punishments for all crimes. They steal only objects but no cash. They then sell the stuff on the cheap to some guy in a van.
Money comes up with their next score. A blind Army vet who received a multi-million dollar settlement from some rich family whose girl killed the vet's daughter. He lives in a house in a neighborhood full of abandoned houses. When they scout the place, they discover he's got a Rottweiler. Alex doesn't like the idea, because they don't steal cash, but of course eventually agrees.
They drug the dog, find all windows barred, and 4 locks on the main door. Rocky has to squeeze in through some small window. Now they are all in. The plan is to gas the guy to sleep, while they look for the money. They find a heavily-locked door. But then the guy shows up. He fights with Money and kills him. The vet doesn't realize the other two are still there. By luck Rocky discovers the location where he keeps the money. They have no choice but to escape through the basement, through the locked door. In the basement they discover something that changes our view of the vet completely. By now, the vet, who doesn't have a good sense of hearing smells the two and starts going after them, shooting and violently beating them up. The dog by now also also woken up. What follows is almost non-stop action as the movie resolves who, if anyone, gets to survive this.
The movie starts with a little intro by the director thanking the audience for watching it. I thought that was pretty cool. Don't Breathe is one tense horror movie. And to its credit it manages to maintain the tension nearly to the very end. Of course, character development isn't what this movie is about. And this scenario where for most of the movie the characters can't communicate makes for a difficult movie for the audience to connect. But Levy and Minnette make it work. They are likable criminals. And Lang stands out as the blind but buffed and trained vet both vulnerable and threatening. The story could have easily stayed at that but it gives us more with the revelation in the basement. Kudos also to the filmmakers for letting the dog survive which rarely happens in movies. Don't Breathe then has to rely on sounds and cinematography to keep the audience involved and it succeeds remarkably well.
Up to this point, 2016 has been an awful year for horror movies. Don't Breathe is the strongest one so far excelling for its relentless tension.