Fans of the ‘Claustrophobic Horror’ genre have been somewhat spoiled of late. Audiences have been treated to a whole slew of horror movies which have seen the protagonists trapped in relatively mundane yet inescapable situations, stalked by threatening forces of varying levels of the supernatural. Last year was dominated by the brilliant Aussie offering ‘The Babadook’, and this year’s leading contender would appear to be the innovative ‘Lights Out’, which started out its life as a 5 minute YouTube short. So as this niche section of the genre continues to expand, is there still room for more new entries?
This feature allows us to follow the antics of a trio of streetwise Michigan burglars who resolve to steal a purportedly large sum of cash, which is believed to be contained within the home of blinded former soldier Stephen Lang. Needless to say this plan crashes and burns in spectacular fashion, and the remainder of the movie finds said teenage hoodlums trapped inside the premises, with mounting evidence that Mr Lang isn’t the soft target they’d been led to believe.
Weighing in at a comfortable 90 minutes, the movie can easily be divided into three distinctly different parts. The set-up, the stumbling block and the results of said stumbling block. Now, bearing in mind that the movie’s seismic shift from ‘simmering thriller’ to ‘brutal horror’ occurs at the 30 minute mark, the question that needs to be asked is does the film have enough meat on the bone to support a further hour of teens running around a locked suburban house being stalked from room to room by what is essentially a demented pensioner? The answer, you’ll be more than pleased to hear, is a resounding YES SIR.
We kick things off with a brief run-down of our plucky antagonists. All three are resentful and rebellious for their own individual reasons, and the movie makes clever use of the skeletal and derelict Detroit landscape in explaining the economic and societal reasons for their anger. Dylan Minette pretty much reprises the role he played in last year’s ‘Goosebumps’, and his Alex haunts the fringes of the trio, all pained expressions and frustrated glances. Alex acts as the only shred of social conscience the group possesses, with his main sense of frustration being an unrequited longing for fellow burglar Rocky, being played by Jane Levy. The closest thing to a heroine that’s on effort, Levy very much channels a young Margot Robbie. Her Rocky is desperately trying to escape a stereotypically boozy mother and stepdad, whilst also doing the best by her vulnerable younger sister, in a traditional ‘tart with a heart’ style. Alas for young Alex, she’s very much under the control and influence of Alpha Male ‘Money’, played by Daniel Zovatto, in the flimsiest of roles which may as well come equipped with an accompanying forehead tattoo reading ‘Yep, Stupid and inevitably going to Die’.
The script wisely offers the bare minimum of character development for the plucky young criminals, choosing instead to demonstrate the street-smart methods and technology that they deploy during their raids. After all, these aren’t the Dark Ages any more. Utilizing spy cams, master keys and various forms of chemical incapacitant, the savvy trio spend their days ripping off the more affluent members of their community in an effort to escape their white-trash existences. Avoiding the various legal trigger factors that would aggravate their offences, everything seems to be going smoothly, until greed inevitably leads to that infamous ‘one last big score’ scenario.
This, in turn, leads us to the job itself. Apart from Alex’s brief unanswered question about the ethics and morality of robbing a blind man, the team get straight down to business, despite a few warning signs that they might want to pass this one by. For starters, the first good look that they and the audience are given of Lang, alarm bells should definitely be ringing. A determined mass of muscle and gristle, the former Gulf War veteran meanders through his derelict housing estate protected by a particularly nasty guard dog. He also happens to possess a rather large collection of tools and garden implements which he’s strategically stashed around his house. Can anybody see where this is going?
When things go south, they do so rapidly and in spectacular fashion, at which point it’s not just Lang himself that poses a threat to the group, but the house itself. All of the team’s strategic and technological advantages are undone quickly enough by brute force and sheer willpower, both of which their victim has in abundance. The camera work is the key to success here, with barely 50% of the screen illuminated at any point, and that illumination being limited to a grimy pallet of greys, blues and yellows. Every opening door and creaking floorboard potentially spells a death sentence, as the bodies start to fall with brutal and cold efficiency.
In terms of set-pieces, there are several nail biting sequences, as fate repeatedly turns the situation against the younger cast members involving sudden unexpected interventions from dogs, unannounced visitors and items of furniture. As a disembodied camera floats between crawlspaces and wall cavities, briefly switching to a dull grey night vision mode for one sequence, we are able to track the progress of the gang.
The film’s direction also makes skillful use of silence during the violent and graphic encounters that ensue. A sudden gunshot causes temporary deafness, and Lang stonily refuses to acknowledge the desperate pleas and supplications which he is offered by his victims. He is just MEAN, and the almost alien groans and howls he emits as he skulks from shadow to shadow give him an almost extra-terrestrial appearance, like one of the creatures from ‘Pitch Black’.
With the only things being fully illuminated by the limited light sources in the house being his victims, the movie employs the finest of horror traditions, as the audience is forced to scan the screen for a grabbing arm or swinging blade emerging from every shadow or doorway.
The second third of the film is supported by a series of slightly moral dilemmas, which repeatedly prevent our subjects from making a clean getaway, and one nerve-shredding sequence involving one of the gang attempting to hide on a slowly breaking pane of glass particularly stands out. But it’s the closing half hour where things really take a turn for the ‘WTF?’, as a series of horrendous social taboos are touched upon. The brutal physicality employed by Lang’s monstrous portrayal, particularly towards the female cast members, is upsetting and only worsened when a sexual element is subsequently introduced.
This relatively brief and restrained roller-coaster ride is then finally bought to an abrupt halt with a pleasing and enjoyable last minute rug-pull.
When you compare this to ‘Lights Out’, ‘Don’t Breathe’ is a much more imaginative and well- executed product. The main flaw in that previous movie was the lack of clear definition to what the monster was, and how the victims were being dispatched. Here the violence is very much on show, and pitched at entirely the right level. Not graphic, but still uncomfortable to watch, and offering no real hope of survival or redemption.
The film blends pleasing levels of morality and scares with an acceptably brief runtime, and will go on to convert well to a home media release due to the efficient and minimalist way in which it has been put together.