Don't Breathe

Rating: 7/10 (15 September 2016)

The trailer for this film looked great, including the tagline, a play on the phrase "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king", it was "In the land of the dark, the blind man is king", and it had a good title, so I hoped for the best, directed by Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead). Basically in Detroit, delinquents Rocky (Jane Levy), Alex (Dylan Minnette) and Money (Daniel Zovatto) make a living from breaking into homes secured by Alex's father's security company and selling the items they steal. However their buyer does not give them a fair price, Rocky dreams of moving with her little sister Diddy (Emma Bercovici) to California to escape their neglectful mother and her alcoholic boyfriend. Money gets a tip about an Army veteran living in an abandoned Detroit neighbourhood, he was given a settlement after wealthy young woman Cindy Roberts (Franciska Töröcsik) killed his daughter in a car accident, the man $300,000 in cash in his house, he is a Blind Man (Avatar's Stephen Lang), but they decide to go ahead with the break in. That night, the three approach the house, drug the Blind Man's dog, all entrances are locked, but Rocky fits through a small window and lets the other two in, they search the house but are unable to find the money, Money shoots the lock off a door, assuming the cash is behind it. The Blind Man is woken by the noise, he attacks Money and kills him with his own gun, Rocky hiding in the closet witnesses the Blind Man open a safe containing the money, after he leaves Alex finds her, they open the safe and steal the money. While the Blind Man deduces from other pairs of shoes that there are more intruders, Rocky and Alex find a door leading to the basement, there they are surprised to find a girl restrained and gagged in a homemade padded cell, after seeing a newspaper article about the car accident, they realise she is Cindy. They free her, but the Blind Man surprises them, he opens fire and mistakenly kills Cindy, Rocky and Alex escape into the cellar, the Blind Man enraged at Cindy's death shuts off the lights, there is a struggle, Alex knocks out the Blind Man and Rocky follows him back up to the house. All the exits have been blocked, Rocky makes her through the ventilation system, while Blind Man's dog attacks Alex, he falls out of the window onto a skylight, the Blind Man captures him and appears to stab him with pruning shears, the dog then pursues Rocky through the vents, she is captured by the Blind Man. Rocky wakes up restrained and gagged in the basement, where the Blind Man reveals that Cindy was carrying his child in order to replace the one she killed, he attempts to artificially inseminate Rocky with a turkey baster filled with his semen, but Alex survived, he knocks him out and handcuffs him. With their blood all over the house, Rocky and Alex know they cannot call the police, they attempt to leave, but the Blind Man escapes his restraints and fatally shoots Alex, Rocky manages to escape, but is chased by the dog, she manages to trap the dog in her car trunk, but the Blind Man is captured by the Blind Man again. Back in the house Rocky is able to disorient the Blind Man by setting off the loud house alarm system, she beats him with a crowbar, knocking him unconscious into the basement, she flees as the police are arriving. In the end, Rocky with the money is preparing to leave Detroit with Diddy on a train to Los Angeles, before boarding she sees a report that the Blind Man survived and is in a stable condition, about killing two intruders in his house, but there is no mention of Rocky or the stolen money. Also starring Christian Zagia as Raul, Katia Bokor as Ginger, Sergej Onopko as Trevor and Olivia Gillies as Blind Man's Daughter. Lang certainly is frightening as the man blinded by a grenade explosion but with a good sense of hearing, he quickly becomes far from sympathetic, it is a simple concept, a robbery gone wrong when the perpetrators get more than they bargained for with the victim turning out to be a scary man with dark secrets, but there are a good amount of bloody and jumpy moments, overall it is a most worthwhile horror. Very good!