Don't Breathe

"This house looked like an easy target, until they found what was inside."

2016 1h 29m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

★7.0TMDB · 8,192

HorrorThriller

Synopsis

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A group of teens break into a blind man's home thinking they'll get away with the perfect crime. They're wrong.

“This house looked like an easy target, until they found what was inside.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Stephen Lang
The Blind Man
Jane Levy
Rocky
Dylan Minnette
Alex
Daniel Zovatto
Money
Emma Bercovici
Diddy
Franciska Törőcsik
Cindy
Christian Zagia
Raul
Katia Bokor
Ginger

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Fede Álvarez
Writers: Fede Álvarez, Rodo Sayagues
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

89 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $159M — a 16.1× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 10 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Don't Breathe Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Fede Álvarez, shot by Pedro Luque. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Roque Baños. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Eric L. Beason shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Stephen Lang and Jane Levy and Dylan Minnette carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Fede Álvarez directs. Pedro Luque behind the camera. Roque Baños scores. Eric L. Beason cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

189 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Grossed $159M — a 16.1× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
3Released 10 years ago.
4Part of the "Don't Breathe Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Fede Álvarez, shot by Pedro Luque. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Roque Baños. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Eric L. Beason shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Stephen Lang and Jane Levy and Dylan Minnette carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "This house looked like an easy target, until they found what was inside.".
10IMDB entry: tt4160708 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Pedro Luque
Original score: Roque Baños
Editing: Eric L. Beason
Production design: Naaman Marshall
Costume design: Carlos Rosario
Makeup / hair: Carla Vicenzino
VFX supervisor: Alejandro Damiani
Sound: Jason Gaya
Stunt coordinator: Béla Unger
Runtime: 89 min · 1h 29m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $9,900,000
Box office: $158,906,350
Return: 1605% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Don't Breathe (2016)

Part of

Don't Breathe Collection

A series of films focusing on a blind ex-military recluse with a tragic and vengeful past.

Also by

Fede Álvarez

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Community reviews

What people are saying

joshfaknam2016-06-07
As is typical with almost all movies of this genre I found this film to be predictable and lacking real creativity. It is an unfortunate collision of several popular titles and left me wondering if its writers had just binge watched a weekend of thriller films that made a few bucks before looking at each other through a bongy haze and declaring "Dude we can totally write a screenplay!" The result is a film that is average at best. Perhaps the audience could also benefit from a little pre-screening bongy haze of their own.
Frank Ochieng2016-08-28
There are several contemporary horror showcases that could certainly benefit from co-writer/director Fede Alvarez’s (“Evil Dead”) edgy home invasion thriller Don’t Breathe. For starters, Alvarez taps into the suggestive elements of tension without the overextended need to go overboard. The chills and thrills seem almost organic and unassuming. Sure, there appears to be a simplistic approach to an otherwise conventional premise of a house break-in at the hands of opportunistic thugs. Nevertheless, Don’t Breathe captures the claustrophobic spirit of its inherent creepiness with stylish cruelty and cleverness. Inevitably, Don’t Breathe may inspire cinematic comparisons to the 2002 David Fincher-directed vehicle Panic Room. Understandably the theme is somewhat recognizable to movie audiences as ominous strangers invading your domestic private space is a recipe for paranoia and persecution. However, Don’t Breathe takes this precarious situation to a whole new scare tactic level of horrific proportions. Consequently, the executed violence and terror-driven tempo is definitely worthy of its suspense-driven objectives. Don’t Breathe is a macabre masterpiece in the making that sets the standard for a current-day stillborn and repetitive horror genre that thrives on pressure cooker predictability. The set-up for Don’t Breathe is quite ambitious and challenging thus forming an interesting spin on the home robbery scenario. The sordid story centers around three upstart small-time crooks making the rounds of thievery in the suburban surroundings of Detroit. Rocky (Jane Levy) and her two male companions Money and Alex (Daniel Zovatto and Dylan Minnette) are able to carry off their home invasion scamming courtesy of Alex’s connections to a home security firm owned by his father (where there is all kinds of access information to private residences and local businesses). Alex’s stipulation, however, is that these home invasion robberies need to be less flashy without drawing too much attention. Plus, all the stolen items confiscated much not be too expensive otherwise their illegal activities will be exposed much sooner than later. Unfortunately lovebirds Rocky and Money do not see eye-to-eye with Alex’s brand of careful and cautious home-robbing philosophy. In fact, the romantic couple wants to reach for the sky and steal as much stuff possible to make their dreams of living on East Street an immediate reality. So what will it take for Alex to get on the same page as Rocky and Money in terms of all of them benefiting on a big score without suffering the dire consequences? The consensus is reached among the law-breaking trio that their next target for viable riches is in the form of a blinded Iraqi war veteran (Stephen Lang). The word is that the personally troubled and sightless ex-military man is about to be awarded a whopping three-hundred thousand dollar cash settlement involving the wrongful death of his beloved young daughter. So the home invasion task seems quite self-explanatory to the young heist-happy hooligans as committing theft against a seemingly vulnerable blind man emotionally and psychologically down in the dumps should be a piece of cake so to speak. Well, Rocky and her two boytoys were sadly mistaken if they thought that they could take sole advantage of this savvy yet disturbed disabled war vet with visions of sorrow and sacrifice. The realization that the home-invading crew has picked a tricky trap of a house to pillage while underestimating the capabilities of its handicapped owner seems like poetic justice. In fact, the irony of the criminal threesome trying to escape the boarded-up dark and dingy household makes them look like the victimized three blind mice at the mercy of a crazed trigger-happy, sight-deprived ex-soldier that can see all too well that his cherished castle and belongings are being jeopardized by these punkish intrusive violators. Strangely, the audience is left wondering whether or not they should root for the blinded bombshell protecting his homestead of secrets or the clueless crooks that talked themselves into this caustic cat-and-mouse game of gloom-and-doom. Don’t Breathe is uncharacteristically compelling for a horror showcase because it relies on genuine scary jolts and jumps…or at least the anticipation of the jolts and jumps that have convincing dramatic weight behind the build up of intensity. Alvarez crafts an arousing narrative that brilliantly displays the mounting nervousness that awaits. Lang’s belligerent blind man patrols every spacing and crevice in the darkness with the will of a rabid dog in heat as he points his explosive firearms at the slightest movements of his trapped guinea pigs in despair. Creatively nerve-racking and nauseous, Don’t Breathe makes dutiful usage of its instinctual delivery of shock value as this potent pot-boiler never settles for any sense of false or mechanically manufactured hedonism. The haunting aura that exists in Don’t Breathe is gasping in visceral authenticity. As the menacing misfit saddled by wartime mortar fire blindness but blessed with tactical tenacity drenched in borderline villainy, Lang’s portrayal as the sightless hunter tracking down his vulnerable prey in his tortured domestic playground is solidly digestible. His inner madness was already established by personalized heartbreak but the arrival of his uninvited guests devilishly unleashed more demons within his off-kilter psyche. The moving targets at the other end of the deranged blind man’s intimidating gun are thoroughly convincing as the harried catalysts for their sightless tormentor’s frustration and escalating rage. Levy’s Rocky, Zovatto’s Money and Minnette’s Alex are plausible as the frightened specimens caught in the maniacal maze of their aggressor’s clutches. The very thought of a psychotic blind man enforcing his brand of warped justice on the youthfully sighted self-indulgent saps is deliciously manipulative and wonderfully inventive. The creepy corners concerning the backlash blackness in Don’t Breathe is explored with grand naughtiness and the atmospheric vibes certainly will not disappoint in this percolating peek-a-boo primer. Don’t Breathe (2016) Ghost House Pictures/Screen Gems/Stage 6 Films/Good Universe 1 hr. 28 mins. Starring: Jane Levy, Stephen Lang, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovatto, Emma Bercovici, Franciska Torocsik Directed and Co-Written by: Fede Alvarez MPAA Rating: R Critic’s Rating: * stars (out of 4 stars) (c) Frank Ochieng 2016
Gimly2016-09-23
2016 has been a great year for horror. With the addition of Don't Breathe, 3 of my top 5 movies the past 9 months are in the genre. I'm a pretty huge horror fan but even for me that is crazy unexpected. Director Fede Alvarez has knocked it out of the park with Don't Breathe. In fact I'm yet to be anything other than impressed by his work (not that notable an achievement, as he's only directed two films, but still). Don't Breathe flips a lot of modern horror conventions, and I love it for that. The use of silence and barely audible noise to bring the scares instead of some cheap blaring-ly loud audio. The fact that there is really no one wholly good or wholly evil.... Plus that puppy is really bloody cute... Final rating:★★★★ - An all round good movie with a little something extra.

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