Painstaking at times, but a true original

Rating: 8/10 (3 October 2018)

"Don't Breathe" is a true original in the "cat and mouse" kind of horror flick - the blind guy concept has really been put to work here in a polished way with a pretty good cast to match (Dylan Minnette being the most notable name in the lineup).
Similar to the horror/thriller "Hush", which was also released in 2016, this movie uses a sensory disability as its primary theme.
With "Hush" the protagonist was obvious, in this movie it's much less clear - I think that's a good thing; moral ambiguity is food for thought.
The Blind Man, portrayed by Stephen Lang, is an ex-military guy who, despite his disability, has a constant aura of sheer intimidation and unpredictability lingering below the surface of 20/20 vision. He's a crack-shot, and the viewer is made to know it - this guy is a sharp, butterfly-floating, bee-stinging, edge-of-your-seat kind of threat. He's maimed; but if he gets you, he gets you good.
The other characters were almost underdeveloped, the focus shifted too quickly from building character background and motive development into the house scenes, but the unyielding roller-coaster of the latter scenes more than made up for a sparse beginning.
More than a few times there were painstaking decisions made by certain characters, a lack of common sense, or situations where I felt the producers forced an inorganic or predictable outcome for the sake of suspense, to thrill, to scare the audience or to segue more easily into other scenes, all forgivable.
A thought-provoking ending rounded off a film that had outlasted its welcome by its later scenes.
A standout film in a genre populated with underwhelming releases, I went in "blind" and was pleasantly surprised by what I could see - 7.7/10.