Don't Breathe: Walking on egg shells

Rating: 7/10 (15 December 2017)

My, the period 2013-2017 has been great for horror movies! With this, the Conjuring 1&2, Babadook, It follows, Lights Out and Get Out among another have really stood out as well as raising the bar for horror writing and acting. I am so happy that this is the case. If this trend continues maybe more people will take horror more seriously as an art form. Who knows maybe one will get a best picture Oscar soon?
Don't Breathe centres around three thieves. Rocky (Jane Levy), Alex (Dylan Minnette) and Money ( Daniel Blanco) who for a number of different reasons want to get enough money to improve their lives. Rocky in particular wants to leave her abusive parents with her younger sister in the hopes of a better life. The answer to all of their prayers seems to come in the form of robbing a blind man's (Stephen Lang) house which supposedly has enough money to solve all their troubles. However once inside the house the blind man as it turns out is not as helpless as he looks.....
Don't breathe takes full advantage of the claustrophobic set of a small, cramped decrepit house. You feel that every corner could result in death; the tiniest creek of a floor board might help the blind man hunt down the three. Director Fede Alvarez takes every opportunity to make the viewer feel on the edge of their seat, make you feel the stress the characters are experiencing knowing how the smallest sound might kill them. Because of this the film has a terrific atmosphere.
The acting too is fantastic, everyone is not only believable in their roles but are able to show just how scared they are when they find themselves in over their head. Alex, Money and Rocky are stupid either and despite their chosen profession are likeable to an extent. Even the Blind man is sympathetic to an extent, even if his motives are questionable. The idea of not making noise to survive is really cleaver and further contributes to some incredibly intense moments, the film again does not waste any of the material the concept has.
I would say that, without going into any spoilers the story suffers from unnecessarily complexity. If the film had just been about the three escaping the house but it adds story elements that at least I feel are not really needed and detracts from the pacing. However it is very personal and I doubt most would be bothered by this.
As a horror movie Don't Breathe is a thrilling watch, as a piece of film making it is a very well made film. I would recommend it.