DHKR: Don't Breathe

Rating: 7/10 (22 September 2016)

Don't Breathe is actually a really unique kind of horror movie that delivers what it advertises, and then some. Even if some of the extra stuff is kinda...out there for most viewers.
No Spoilers here, just recovered from a bad head cold, and I'm just getting back to writing reviews on here. All you need to know is the movie works well as a scary movie, much like last year's The Witch. And for those who have not seen that particular film, The Witch was a scary movie that was more aligned on the darker themes rather than the terrifying being itself. It felt less like a modern scary movie, and more like a very dark drama that just so happened to be about a witch.
Don't Breathe is pretty much like that; a very dark movie with themes of revenge, that just so happens to have a presence that's scary. In this movie's case, a psychopathic, blind Gulf War veteran simply known as "The Blind Man".
The plot is pretty simple for most horror fare. Three teenagers who expertly rob the houses in their dying neighborhood learn of the Blind Man's fortune, about 30,000 USDs, and presume to break in at night, believing it to be easy. However, they soon find out that this supposedly "easy" target is anything but, and one of the kids gets shot and killed off by the Blind Man. Soon, the movie turns into a game of cat and mice, as the remaining two thieves have to find the money and get out, before getting killed themselves by the psychotic war vet.
The movie goes out of its way to be as dark and original as it can with it's premise, and it well succeeds in that regard. The victim characters are set up as punish rogues with good hearts(at least two of the three are), which at least make them more sympathetic than the usual kind of idiots. The Blind Man is also set up as a sympathetic villain from the start, but that gets turned up on it's head after an actually well kept twist that I dare not spoil to those interested. The claustrophobic feel of each scene, combined with the super-senses that the villain has makes for some extremely tense moments that will leave you in a cold sweat.
I wish I could continue on, but I can't without spoiling some good twists. Go and watch the movie, and experience the horror yourselves.