Thrillers nowadays can feel quite recycled and contrived, but Don't Breathe, a recent pulse-pounding ride set mostly in the dark, is pretty exhilarating. When three youths decide to rob a house of a former military vet, who is currently blind (he's also recently lost his daughter in a tragic hit-and-run car accident), they get more than they bargained for: the man (Stephen Lang) quickly turns the screws on them, becoming a major predator to their newly-flipped prey status. There is a middle section in which two of the robbers discover a horrible secret of the blind man, a gimmick that, I'm guessing, is supposed to make us more sympathetic to them rather than him; honestly, it falls kinda flat. Still, the final act involving a vicious dog is as exciting as suspense gets, and the girl (Jane Levy) keeps us engaged. Director Fede Alvarez does a much better job than he had previously done with the unnecessary Evil Dead remake, and the closing scenes also cleverly incorporate an opening for a sequel that would actually feel welcome rather than tiresome - something that most other films that overachieve on a moderate budget tend to do. I just hope we don't have to hold our breath for too long before we see it.
B+
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