In the home of the blind, the blind is still the king!

Rating: 4/10 (21 March 2017)

In many of the reviews, user-comments and movie blog discussions that I encountered recently, "Don't Breathe" is referred to as one of the most intense, horrifying and genuinely shocking horror/thrillers of the past 10-15 years Is it now? Is it really, or are we simply not seeing enough intense and genuinely shocking thrillers lately? Because, after all, "Don't Breathe" is only a very simplistic and derivative story with stereotypical lead characters, highly questionable plot twists and only a handful of semi-decent jump scenes that you can feel coming well in advance. There's a reasonably uncanny and grim atmosphere throughout, and Stephen Lang puts down a solid anti-hero performance, but aside from that "Don't Breathe" is a very routine and forgettable heist-gone-wrong thriller. Fede Alvarez did a fairly respectable job remaking the almighty horror classic "The Evil Dead", and apparently Sam Raimi thought so too, as he appears on the credits as executive producer for Alvarez' newest and very own film baby. Three amateur teen burglars from the lower Detroit (or was it Chicago?) social middle- class think they have stumbled on the opportunity of a lifetime. They will break into the home of a former Gulf War veteran who allegedly stores a large sum of money from when his only daughter got killed in a road accident. It's guaranteed to be a piece of cake, since the veteran is the sole remaining resident in a pauperized housing area and, moreover, he turns out to be as blind as a bat! Of course it quickly becomes abundantly clear that they made a big mistake, for starters because our veteran owns a vicious Rottweiler dog (that is not blind) and, secondly, he isn't just a helpless disabled person but a genuinely relentless psychopath. The three teen burglars are hopelessly clichéd and cardboard characters. The self-acclaimed leader is tough but typically ruthless and dumb, then there's the overly cautious nerd who only participates because he's got a crush on the leader's cute girlfriend. And, obviously, the girlfriend in question – Rocky – is basically a good person but she only turns to criminal facts because she desperately wants to offer her little sister a better life, far away from their alcoholic mother. Yawn! Thrillers/horror movies with blind protagonists that can seriously kick ass aren't exactly scarce, neither. Only recently, for example, there also was the sublime movie "Late Phases" in which another blind middle-aged war veteran single- handedly battles a bloodthirsty werewolf. That guy lost his dog at the beginning of the film, but still he was tougher and more narcissist and – most of all – he didn't do stuff that blind people can't possibly do! Somewhere halfway in the plot of "Don't Breathe", the burglars discover a dark and horrifying secret in the blind man's basement. This initially seems like an inventive and surprising plot twist, but not if contemplate about it a bit further. How on earth a blind person capable of arranging all this, I'd really like to know. "Don't Breathe" certainly isn't a bad film, but judging by the current rating and the numerous praising reviews, I can safely say it's one of the most overrated thrillers of the past years.