Don't Breathe

This review may contain spoilers!

Well if Daredevil and this film have taught me anything it's that you do not mess with blind people. I would give Don't Breathe a 6/10.

This film plays around with a very morally grey story, the protagonists are thieves and show tendencies towards greed throughout and the blind man isn't a victim so much as he's a rather terrifying kidnapper, murderer and rapist. There's a lot of focus put towards tension and getting you on the edge of your seat, this is done effectively through several scenes in which you're left wondering how on earth the main characters are going to escape the blind man. The cinematography is very good, the shots used really capture and explore the setting; everything feels specially crafted and thought through. The score helps build the tension, I also liked how the sound was mixed to create some very gripping sequences.

Stephen Lang, who played The Blind Man, is a rather terrifying force in this film; Lang's ability to portray a role who is convincingly blind as well as savage and threatening is commendable. Jane Levy, who played Rocky, is a pretty solid leading protagonist; her consistent drive to get the money and escape fuels this movie from start to finish. Daniel Zovatto, who played Money, really sells the gangster robber persona; Zovatto's intense aggression towards other characters as well as his intense fear when confronted with his death really makes him stand out.

However the best performance came from Dylan Minnette, who played Alex. Minnette is a real up and comer who I'm enjoying seeing more and more of, he was good in Ghostbusters but he's great in this. His role serves as the moral conscience of the main group of thieves, I liked seeing him lay out the options and consequences as the film took a darker and darker turn. Minnette brings forth a character who is constantly fighting for Rocky's attention and the group's protection; his bloody scraps with the blind man are some of the best scenes of the film.

This film does have several very tense scenes but you only ever feel uneasy; to be clear this movie is marketed as a horror but never really creates a successful feeling of existing within the horror genre. I also found that the revelation that the blind man was kidnapping and raping girls so he could have a new daughter was a bit far fetched, it felt like a poorly written plot twist that was only included for the shock value. The editing for this film started off well but started getting a bit generic pretty quickly, this affected the pacing negatively for some of the film.

Emma Bercovici, who played Diddy, is one of the worst child actor performances I've seen this year; her line delivery was appalling especially. Franciska Torocsik, who played Cindy, could've been interesting if her character had been given any real screen time; as it was her swift death felt like wasted potential. Christian Zagia, who played Raul, was a completely unnecessary role to this film; there wasn't any real call for a broker role and his relationship with Zovatto was unclear at best. Katia Bokor and Sergej Onopko, who played Ginger and Trevor respectively, didn't portray parental figures very well at all; the family dynamic in this feature was very hastily done and it showed.