Thursday, August 25, 2016

Review: Don't Breathe

by Patrick Bromley
This is the real deal.

Fede Alvarez had a lot to prove when he took on the 2013 remake of Evil Dead. Not only was he the director willing to tackle Sam Raimi's original classic -- one of the sacred cows of horror -- but he also had to do it in such a way as to honor the first movie while justifying a remake that still managed to be different enough so as to give his version its own personality. At this, he was mostly successful. Though the finished product is still uneven, it's hard to argue that Alvarez didn't direct the hell out of his Evil Dead, making a movie that's stylish and beautiful and, most of all, gleefully brutal in its execution of largely practical gore gags. Like the movie or not, Fede Alvarez did his very best to deliver the goods.
Now Alvarez is back with his second feature, Don't Breathe, and once again he delivers the goods. Based on an original script by the director and co-writer Rodo Sayagues, Don't Breathe is able to exist outside the shadow of an existing property and offers a clearer, less baggage-laden look at who Fede Alvarez is as a filmmaker. Like he had already done with Evil Dead, he proves here to be an exceptional technician and stylist -- the movie is carefully constructed in a show-offy way reminiscent of Hitchcock, De Palma and Panic Room-era (era) David Fincher, all of whose influences are deeply felt in Don't Breathe. But for a guy whose debut film was a more-or-less spiritually faithful remake of a classic horror film, Alvarez suggests with Don't Breathe that he's no longer interested in doing what is expected of him within genre frameworks. That's not to say that Evil Dead was just some carbon copy, but the movie delivered more or less what we expected when we sat down. With Don't Breathe, you don't know what to expect -- even when you think you do. This is a movie with surprises in store.

Jane Levy stars as Rocky, one-third of a team of young thieves living in Detroit who find out that the home of a blind man (Stephen Lang) is supposedly holding tens of thousands of dollars won in a court settlement. Anxious to get her little sister out of Detroit and split for Los Angeles, Rocky and her two partners enter the house for what is supposed to be a very easy job. It winds up being anything but.
Like the indie horror film Intruders from earlier this year, Don't Breathe starts as a home invasion/crime film before morphing into something less predictably safe (one might say it is "savagely unpredictable," am I right?). New developments are introduced that throw us off balance. Characters behave in ways we don't see coming -- and, yet, because this movie is very smart, it affords the characters the same intelligence. An argument could be made that getting into this situation in the first place is the wrong choice, but once everyone is in, they're in. They do the things we would want them to do and act in the ways that we hope they will act. Watching stupid people make bad choices rarely makes for a fun moviegoing experience, so Don't Breathe offers smart people making bad choices. And then trying to make good choices (sometimes) but not being able. It helps, too, that the characters are just sympathetic enough -- they all have their reasons for behaving the way they do. Rocky desperately needs the money to get her younger sister away from an abusive, alcoholic mother. One of her partners, Alex (Dylan Minnette), is there because he's in love. Even Stephen Lang's blind man is given enough back story so as to not be a complete monster. He may still be a monster (or not), but at least he's a monster of some making.

Where the movie really shines is in its formal construction. The nature of the plot is such that it allows for several long sequences to take place without any dialogue, and these are among the best scenes in the movie. Alvarez builds insane amounts of tension out of silence and geography -- where the characters are both within the house and within the frame. One scene, designed to take place in total darkness, is presented in a way I've never seen in a movie before. It's incredible. The camera is always a weightless objective observer, traveling through doorways, windows and sometimes even floors, only ever revealing as much as any of the characters know. This is the kind of thriller that manipulates its audience brilliantly, but we're having so much fun being manipulated that all we can do is giggle. And maybe hold our breath.
It's been a rough summer at the movies, but somehow August is saving a dire couple of months with some terrific smaller films. Don't Breathe is one of them. See it opening weekend in as crowded a theater as you can find, as this is a film that demands to be seen with a huge group of people squirming and reacting to just how tense and fun the movie can be. The Evil Dead remake had me curious to see what Fede Alvarez would do next. Don't Breathe has me genuinely excited. This movie kicks ass.

30 comments:

  1. I usually try to stay away from packed theaters but I'll take your word on this one, Patrick. I can't wait to see it!

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  2. Just got to watch this a few hours ago and loved it. Maybe it comes from having a guy like Raimi in his corner, but it really strikes me how confidently Alvarez seems to direct his movies. Despite this being only his second full-length movie the guy knows what he's doing.

    Much like Green Room, I don't think Don't Breathe can be strictly classified as Horror. In fact I think those two movies would make a great double feature. I can almost picture the trio in Don't Breathe watching the Ain't Rights play a show in Detroit sometime before both movies take place in some Cait Cannon-esque made-up shared universe.

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    1. The second point you make is interesting, because, though I had seen the trailer in a theater, I was expecting more "horror" from Don't Breathe--which is not to say it isn't present at all. This being the case, I am curious if Patrick considers this a horror movie or or not. I notice he did not call it a horror movie in the review and, like Ross, referred to it as a thriller near the end. If so, what differentiates it from Green Room (a question which I understand might be difficult to answer without spoilers)? I know that whether or not a film fits in a genre means next to nothing, and I'm certainly not trying to call anybody out, but it's been something I've been thinking about since I listened to "Checking In On Horror" and especially after watching this movie--which, I should mention, I enjoyed immensely.

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    2. I think it's as simple as Fede Alvarez directed Evil Dead which is a horror movie so he's considered a horror director where Jeremy Saulnier directed Blue Ruin which is a thriller so he's considered a thriller director. Fair? Probably not.

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    3. I honestly consider Don't Breathe to absolutely be a horror movie because it's a group of young people against a human monster. It's like an inventive slasher movie. Green Room isn't as much because it's an organization instead of a monster. Though there is a strong argument to be made that Green Room is horror, and I might be convinced of it.

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    4. But Saulnier also directed Murder Party, which is a horror comedy--however, he's not well known for it, as he is for Blue Ruin.

      And I see your point about the organization, but aren't there many horror movies that use groups of monsters? Zombies, vampires, and witches have all been know to group together at some point.

      I wonder if, in addition the villains of Green Room, it's also the setting that makes people reluctant to call it horror. Whereas Don't Breathe takes place in the "old dark house", Green Room is set in a bar, which doesn't have the same kind of gothic creepiness to it.

      I guess what I'm really trying to get at is that horror seems to be ill-defined at this moment--not here, but in general. Whether that's horror community or mass audiences, I'm not sure, but it goes back, really, to The Babadook and It Follows, cementing itself with the confounding statement that The Witch isn't horror. I can understand why one would suggest that Green Room isn't horror (though I think it is, since it's basically a version of the home invasion genre [not to mention how horrified I felt watching it]), but, in my mind, Don't Breathe has the same basic structure: A goes to an isolated place they don't belong, gets trapped inside by B, and tries to escape. (However, after typing that, I have considered Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey and how many different genres use that plot structure.) I guess, then, what I'm asking is this: how much of horror comes from conventions and how much from the audience's response to it?

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    5. I can't read this. There's too many words.

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    6. I think it's mostly about the marketing.. it's a horror movie because that's what we've been told it is. Crimson Peak wasn't really a horror movie, but it likely will always be remembered as one because that's what it was sold as.

      I prefer to think of DB as a horror movie, because I don't think it works as a thriller. For me it goes too far by the time it's over to be taken as seriously or be believable enough to hold thriller status, but in turn commits to its own ridiculousness via the same last few parts to really nail being horror. Green Room never left that realm of credulity, so I never rolled my eyes at it the same way I ended up doing a few times during the last stretch of Don't Breathe.

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    7. Obviously categorizing anything is imperfect, and horror is already such a broad category to begin with. To me one of the things that Green Room and Don't Breathe have in common in contrast to old school horror is that they don't really seem to embrace the kills. There's a brutality to both of them, but when somebody dies it doesn't have the drawn out elaborateness of many slasher movies. The deaths, while often genuinely shocking, aren't played as the money shot. And yes, I'm sure there are probably other movies that I would solidly classify as Horror movies that are similar in that regard, but like I said it's an imperfect categorization.

      Without a doubt there are horrific moments in this movie, and as Daniel puts it, the "villain" in this movie could be considered a human monster, although I'd argue not a wholly unsympathetic one, especially considering the initial motivations of what are more or less the protagonists. I'd also say that I consider Buffalo Bill a human monster but don't think of Silence of the Lambs as a Horror movie (future installments of the series maybe qualify though).

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    8. Ya'll are smart folks.

      Michael, like I said there's a strong argument to be made that Green Room is horror and I'm probably convinced by it. It's close enough at least. Also, I'll never understand how people can think The Witch and Crimson Peak aren't horror. That blows my brain.

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    9. The Witch felt like classic horror. Crimson Peak was more of a gothic romance than anything. The setting was horror but it didn't feel like the intent of the movie was to achieve fear or disgust.

      I just watched Don't Breathe and Green Room over the weekend, one in the morning and one at night, so almost a double feature. They did go well together, they have similar elements but work in different ways. Don't Breathe is a rhythmic exercise of "what else could go wrong?". Green Room takes its time with the unfortunate events and lets you sit with the dread of the characters. GR also does a much better job of developing both its heroes and villains, while DB's characters are pretty meh. I don't know that I would call GR a horror, although it does feel a little torture porney I guess. DB definitely felt like a slasher, with the blind man having a sort of Michael Myers presence, and his little dog acting as a monster side kick.

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  3. Also, people should try to see this at a theater with good sound systems if at all possible.

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  4. Excuse my language, but this movie looks enjoyable.

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  5. Nice piece Mr. Bromley, as per usual. Excited to see this opening weekend but my one reservation is that once I watch this I may not be able to stop watching horror movies until November 1st… perhaps November 7th.

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  6. I'm tempted to see this again tonight after I check out "Obama Sunrise"

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  7. I just saw it tonight. Damn it was good. It's so refreshing to see a movie like this. That infrared scene was so cool!

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  8. Still 2 weeks till this one will be released here, I finally found a movie again to look forward to. Thank you =)

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  9. Watched this last night and really had a great time - just read your review (which I could have read beforehand actually - nice job avoiding spoilers because there's even some vague comments that could spoil it a l'il) and you nailed it. I was a little worried I wouldn't see much of a crowd on a Thursday night in Halifax but was pleasantly surprised with a solid 100+ people in attendance (including a Mom and her 10-year-old son - hilariously inappropriate). Possibly my best theatre experience of the summer - based on the trailer alone I was totally going to skip this but I'm glad Top Critics like yourself convinced me otherwise - thanks!

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    1. That Top critics joke aint going away fast, Heather has a great sense of humour though she was caught off guard with the Grandpa dying joke, that was great

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  10. Since I was dropped down by my expectations for Suicide Squad this is my new film I am the most excited to see, can't wait

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  11. I just saw this last night and was floored by the awesomeness. This movie is amazing! I can't possibly call this a weak summer when it gave us this amazing gem. Also Kubo. Kubo rocks my socks.

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  12. I liked it but it's a straight rip off of a certain Wes Craven film, about 90% so. I won't say which movie but it's copied so much even down to the dog chase in the air vent shafts.

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    1. I liked this movie a lot, but you're pretty dead on. Like everybody else, I was thinking of Green Room a lot during this, but I never would've made the connection between it and Big Ed and Nadine chasing down Roach and Fool. Nice!

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  13. I listen to the podcast every week, but as I'm not much of a horror fan, the horror-centric ones go a bit over my head. But, at your recommendation, I went to Don't Breathe opening night. Man, was it ever the Real Deal(tm).

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  14. I liked the movie and your review, but I disagree that the characters were smart. They make the same dumb decisions people in horror movies always make. When has going into the dark, mysterious basement ever actually provided the best method of escape?

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    1. When there's no other visible way to get out? Not the smartest, I know, but I appreciated that the characters at least appeared to be trying to think their way out of a situation and not just acting our of screenwriter convenience.

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  15. Finally going to see this tonight. Haven't read Patrick's piece above (looking forward to it after the movie) and haven't really seen any of the marketing other than a TV spot - from what I hear this is really the best way to go into it.

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  16. I liked parts of the film but it definitely has issues, as they all do. However, I do think it is wrong to praise the weightless camera work only showing us what the characters would know, when it violates that several times, one almost immediately after the start (assuming you ignore the actual first shot). I don't want to spoil, but it was both jarring and confusing when it happened the first time... By the end of the film where people were teleporting through walls and slipping between legs in-between cuts I fully checked out of the logic of the film.

    For me this is basically the same as Tusk with some better camera-work.

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  17. I've been on vacation for a few weeks, was down in Florida. So I know I was a little late to the party on this one, but I saw it yesterday and my god...what a great fucking movie.

    I read your article and that was all I needed to hit up the matinee showing my second day back from vacation. A great way to kick off the Fall Movie Season!! Thanks Patrick!! But is it all downhill from this mountain of a thriller as far as the rest of this year?

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