Don't Breathe

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Fede Alvarez/Starring: Stephen Lang, Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, and Daniel Zovatto

Don't Breathe is a horror film that simplifies its method of storytelling without cheating the audience. In director Fede Alvarez's film, we find no computer-generated special effects or any visual effects at all save a sequence in a basement where an eerie glow serves as a chilling simulacrum of darkness. No cliche ghouls who darken walls and halls with their ectoplasmic presence are to be found in Alvarez's film. Here, we have three teenagers trapped in a house where a blind psychopath and his vicious dog mean to do the protagonists nasty harm. It's a chiller that works exceptionally well.

Simplified without being simplistic, Alvarez's film delivers what its intriguing trailer promises; heart-stopping thrills and creepy moments, with ample room for surprises along the way.

Set in present day Detroit, three young people; Rocky (Jane Levy), Alex (Dylan Minnette) and their de facto leader; Money (Daniel Zovatto) commit home burglaries. Though they rob homeowners of valuables; their operating principle forbids them to steal money. It's impressive how Alvarez, who co-wrote the script, gives us so much background on the characters with a paucity of exposition. We learn quickly the three kids steal to finance a move to Los Angeles, which they see as an escape from the economic blight of their hometown. A brief scene at a trailer park gives us a good idea why Rocky would choose to commit burglary to finance her move. Her drunken, dissipated mother makes very un-motherly comments about where her daughter might be her earning money. Hoping to remove her sweet, younger sister Diddy (Emma Bercovici) from the noxious environment of home gives Rocky's robberies a strong, yet ironic sense of moral purpose.

What complicates the three young felon's thieving operations is Alex's love for Rocky, who is committed to the less savory Money. Rocky invites Alex to join she, Money and Diddy on their move to L.A., which he accepts after an initially rebuffing her offer.

Only days away from their move, the three decide to commit one last robbery. Money receives a job-lead from his fence, who tells him of a home occupied by a veteran of the Persian Gulf War, who allegedly keeps $300,000 in his home. We learn the money was a pay-off from a wealthy family, whose daughter was responsible for the death of the man's own daughter. Days before the robbery, Rocky, Money and Alex learn the veteran is blind and essentially a shut-in, as is revealed during their casing of his house. Though Alex is reluctant to proceed, citing their valuables-only rule, the trio forges ahead anyway.

The actual break-in is a fairly tense sequence, as Money first narcotizes the owner's vicious rottweiler before they gain entry by breaking a window. As Money and Rocky tip-toe about the house, Alex stands near the door, urging them to abandon their operation. A hair-raising moment when Money enters the blind-man's upstairs bedroom is particularly exciting. Money narrowly escapes detection as the blind man (a very frightening Stephen Lang) wakes, only to return to sleep. Money then deploys a soporific mist to ensure the man remains deep in slumber. Downstairs, Alex stands near the exit, nervously while Rocky walks about the place, searching for the alleged cache of cash. The movie kicks into high gear after Money foolishly tries to shoot the lock off the basement door with a 9mm. The shock of suddenly seeing the blind man standing at the entrance of the room makes for a nice scare. Rather than using the gun to initiate an escape, Money boldly points the gun at the man, demanding the money while Rocky and Alex watch in muted horror. Moving toward Money, the man is able to disarm him then shove the gun in his face while grasping his throat. Begging for his life, Money asks to be let go. The man asks about others in the house and when Money fails to reveal his friends' presence, the blind man shoots him in the head. Rocky and Alex stare in shock as the man points the gun in their direction.

Shortly after, the man walks purposefully around his house, locking doors with keys and nailing planks to prevent entry and escape. It is particularly nail-biting to watch the man narrowly miss Alex as he quickly walks through the hallway with Money's gun in hand. As Alex and Rocky scramble for hiding places, she chooses a closet, which happens to contain a safe the man opens with a combination she sees on digital pad. Once he leaves, she opens the safe then removes the stacks of money therein.

Before long, the man learns of Alex and Rocky's presence, in spite of their best efforts to conceal themselves. The movie then becomes a thrilling cat and mouse chase as Alex and Rocky desperately search for an exit. The story takes an intriguing turn when Alex and Rocky make a shocking discovery in the basement while searching for an escape. What they learn makes the man less a sympathetic victim of a break-in and more the perpetrator of a heinous crime. The motivation behind said secret seems a bit preposterous but it works nevertheless.

The plot tightens further when the man's rottweiler wakes from his slumber to join his master's hunt. The house becomes a hermetically-sealed nightmare as the struggle to free themselves becomes a series of ordeals.

A horror film is only as effective as its antagonist and in this case, the villain was well-conceived and well-cast. Stephen Lang; all muscly menace, is a terrifying villain. He has very little dialogue in the film, which make his motivations mysterious and unsettling. Part of his character's malign power resides in his eyes, which bear conspicuous war wounds.

I really like that the felons--the real antagonists--become sympathetic prey while the supposed victim; a blind war veteran, becomes the bad guy. Alvarez fogs the film's morality; making the distinction between good and evil difficult to define. One can't forget Rocky's motivations to rob, which are tied to her compassionate feelings for her young sister. But the fact remains: she steals a blind veteran's money; which is his feeble compensation for a great wrong dealt to he and his daughter. The ironies and contradictions are endlessly fascinatingly.

I thought the story would end definitively, but I was surprised to find the door was left widely ajar for a sequel. I shouldn't be surprised; even the least successful horror films come in twos or threes or...you get the picture. Though I find most horror movie sequels to be unnecessary, a continuation to this story could be interesting.

Don't Breathe takes an old fashioned approach to telling its story: simple setting, simple story, terrific characters but uses what seem like limitations to its advantage. No CGI intrusions here, no elaborate sets; just imaginative filmmaking. Seems simple and easy, right? If only the summer blockbusters were as inspired.

It Follows

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: David Robert Mitchell/Starring: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Lili Sepe, Jake Weary, Daniel Zovatto and Olivia Luccardi

It's refreshing to see a horror film that doesn't have Saw or Insidious in the title and even more so to find one that isn't about idiots behaving idiotically. But based on the trailers I watched before director David Robert Mitchell's terrific new film It Follows, it seems more are to come. But in the meantime, Mitchell's film heralds the arrival of a young, new talent behind the camera; one who does so much with what appears to be an emaciated budget. Mitchell's film is creepy, imaginative and its look is something reminiscent of a 1980s' low-budget horror flick, which isn't a disparaging knock.

Set in the urban and suburban blight of Detroit, the film tells the story of a mysterious, malevolent entity or force (Mitchell never really divulges its origins, which works really well), that assumes human form then single-mindedly pursues a victim. The protagonist, Jay Height (Maika Monroe, who resembles both Chloe Sevigny and Dakota Fanning at times) learns of the entity the hard way.

One night, after a date with a young man named Hugh (Jake Weary), who exhibits strange behavior at the movies and dinner, he becomes alarmed when he sees a lady Jay (and the audience) can't. Hugh hurriedly leads her to a secluded area for some carnal pleasure. Unfortunately for Jay, Hugh has ulterior motives, which she learns when he places a rag over her mouth to render her unconscious. When she wakes, tied to a chair in an abandoned building, he explains to her that something is after him; something that assumes human form. Explaining further, he tells Jay that in making love to her he has "passed on" the entity to her; making her its prime target. He also insists she should never allow it to touch her, as it would mean certain death, which would also mean the thing would then find and kill him before moving along the chain of those who have managed to elude its lethal malevolence. He warns her she should always have access to an exit, lest the entity corner her. Jay discovers that only the entity's prey, namely herself, can see the assailant; making its existence difficult to prove to others.

Quite a bit to lay on anyone, eh?!

So begins Jay's ordeal, which means eluding the thing she can only see and convincing her friends she isn't crazy.

What is particularly impressive about Mitchell's film is its lack of special effects. With a meager $2 million dollar budget, Mitchell proves himself to be a resourceful filmmaker. No frame-clogging CGI or ear-shattering noise to tell his story; Mitchell relies on the most basic resource available to filmmakers: people. Every stalking comes in human guise; sometimes an old woman, another time a naked or half-naked assailant. Sometimes the entity approaches from behind or when Jay is sitting in class, looking out the window. The fact that it never runs; only creeps or staggers slowly and implacably toward its victim makes it all the more frightening.

As the story progresses, we begin to see themes emerge; one involves the passing of the entity through sexual intercourse; a metaphor for sexually transmitted diseases. Much of the film's imagery is sexual; half-naked or fully naked bodies in relentless pursuit, while the libidinous and quasi-libidinous relationships Jay shares between three young men in the film connect to its sexual theme. Mitchell seems to be making a comment about the consequences of promiscuity and emotionally-detached sex.

Yet another theme focuses on Detroit's economic downturn, which serves as commentary on the country's financial woes as well. As Jay and her friends search for Hugh to learn more about the entity, the group travels from middle-class suburbs to blighted neighborhoods that may have thrived once upon a prosperity.

And as the teens devise a plan to kill the entity, the scheme's outcome leaves us with an uneasy feeling the force is impervious to destructive means. We never actually see or learn how the malign spirit came to be. Mitchell leaves much to mystery, which I think is very effective. We also never see the thing itself, only its human vessels--also very effective.

Though Jay and her friends are sometimes prey to conventional horror film teen behavior--doing things that are several bus-stops pass stupid--they act and react like real people, which means making choices and decisions that are reasonably logical. As many horror film fans know, level-headed teens with common sense are a rare species.

I really liked the film's look; we're never certain which decade we're in. We could be in a 70s' exploitation film or, as aforementioned, a modest multiplex offering from the 1980s'.

Mitchell's instinct to downplay gore is welcome and serves the film well, as does the ending, with its marvelous ambiguity.

It Follows has garnered strong reviews, which it richly deserves. Making a horror film so distinct and imaginative is hardly a frivolous venture;, as film-goers, like myself, are well-aware. To see a horror film as unique as Mitchell's, one usually has to sit through countless, uninspired, Hollywood splatter-fests and mediocre gore franchises that never seem to die.

I hope Mitchell avoids the pitfalls that sometimes rob young, successful filmmakers of their creative fire; either too much acclaim or the lure of Hollywood glamor, which almost always comes with a compromising price-tag. I think he will. Can't wait to see his next film.