Don’t Breathe is a 2016 American horror-thriller film that Fede Alvarez produced, directed, and co-wrote with Rodo Sayagues. Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert also contributed to the film’s production. The story of three friends who become stuck inside a blind man’s home while breaking into it is the subject of the movie, which also stars Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovatto, and Stephen Lang. Sony Pictures Releasing handled the film’s distribution while Ghost House Pictures and Good Universe handled its production.
Director lvarez thought the film would differ from his earlier work on Evil Dead by having less gore, a unique plot, more suspense, and no reliance on supernatural elements—which he felt were overused.
Later, in early 2014, the project—originally named A Man in the Dark—was revealed; it was to be directed by lvarez, written by Sayagues, produced by Raimi and Tapert, and starred Levy. In Detroit, principal photography started on June 29 and ended in July 2015.
Don’t Breathe had its South by Southwest debut on March 12 and was released in theatres on August 26 thanks to Screen Gems and Stage 6 Films. Critics generally gave the movie favourable reviews and commended the actors, director, storyline, and tight atmosphere. The movie made around $157 million. On August 13, 2021, a sequel was released, with Lang returning in it.
PLOT:
Three Detroit miscreants named Rocky, Alex, and Money make a living by robbing homes and stealing belongings. Rocky longs to leave their controlling mother and her alcoholic partner and relocate to California with her younger sister, Diddy. The three are frustrated by their fence’s continual underestimation of the stuff they carry. Money learns from their fence that Gulf War veteran Norman Nordstrom lives in an abandoned Detroit neighbourhood and has $300,000 in cash. According to reports, Cindy Roberts, a wealthy young woman, received the money as compensation after killing Norman’s daughter in a vehicle accident. The three snoop on the residence and discover Norman’s blindness.
The group approaches the house at night, drugs Nordstrom’s rottweiler dog, and then enters. A sleeping gas bottle is placed in Nordstrom’s bedroom by money. Money assumes the stolen goods are stored there when he sees a locked basement door and shoots the lock. Nordstrom is awakened by the noise, and when Rocky stands still, he kills Money by overpowering him, taking the gun, and doing it. Rocky sees Nordstrom examine his goods by opening a concealed safe. She opens the safe after he departs and removes the money. Nordstrom returns to find the safe empty after realising there are more trespassers after discovering Rocky and Alex’s shoes.
Rocky and Alex enter the basement after eluding Nordstrom. They discover a pregnant woman who identifies herself as Cindy Roberts there, bound and gagged.
Nordstrom is awakened by the noise, and when Rocky stands still, he kills Money by overpowering him, taking the gun, and doing it. Rocky sees Nordstrom examine his goods by opening a concealed safe. She opens the safe after he departs and removes the money. Nordstrom returns to find the safe empty after realising there are more trespassers after discovering Rocky and Alex’s shoes.
The lights are then turned off, leaving the basement in pitch black. Alex knocks Nordstrom out after a scuffle and blind pursuit, and they run upstairs.
They approach the dog, who has awoke, and retreat into the bedroom after sealing the cellar entrance. Through a ventilation duct, Rocky leaves the space. Alex is unconscious after falling out of a window and hitting a skylight. After shooting out the utility room skylight and cornering Alex when he awakens, Nordstrom stabs him with a pair of garden shears. Before being apprehended by Nordstrom, the dog chases Rocky through the vents.
Rocky awakens in the basement, bound. According to Nordstrom, Cindy was carrying a “replacement” for his daughter. He then gets ready to use a turkey baster to artificially inseminate Rocky, pledging to let her go once she has given him a kid. Alex saves Rocky and handcuffs Nordstrom after luring him into stabbing Money’s corpse in order to survive.
Alex and Rocky make an effort to exit through the front entrance. Nordstrom escapes and kills Alex with a single shot. The dog is after Rocky, so she runs away. She locks the puppy in the trunk of her car, but Nordstrom manages to capture her again. After being dragged back into his house
CAST:
- Jane Levy plays Roxanne, or “Rocky,” a Detroit burglar seeking asylum in California in order to lead a better life.
- Stephen Lang plays “The Blind Man,” Norman Nordstrom, a Gulf War veteran who was blinded by shrapnel.
- Rocky’s pal and Detroit thief Alex, played by Dylan Minnette,
- Rocky’s boyfriend and Detroit thief, Money, played by Daniel Zovatto,
- Franciska Törcsik plays Cindy Roberts.
- Rocky’s younger sister, Diddy, is played by Emma Bercovici.
- As for Raul, Christian Zagia [7]
- Rocky’s abusive mother, Ginger, is played by Katia Bokor.
- As for Trevor, Sergej Onopko
PRODUCTION:
Development:
Fede lvarez stated that, in some respects, the decision to make the movie was a response to the criticisms of his first movie, Evil Dead (2013), particularly the claims that it was a remake, featured too much blood, and was overly concerned with startling the audience. In reaction, lvarez made the decision to write Don’t Breathe, a unique tale that used less blood and emphasised suspense over frightening viewers. He thought it was too popular to make a movie about the supernatural, therefore he wanted to stay away from that.
Lvarez claimed that the antagonist’s powers were purposefully taken away in order to render him blind.
When you naturally provide someone with powers and increase their scary potential,
Therefore, we reasoned, “What if we do it the opposite way around and remove his eyes, making him blind?”
The film, according to Lvarez, is an “exercise in reversal,” as it purposefully subverts clichés like the idea that the house at issue is a “beautiful house in a terrifying neighbourhood” rather than the contrary, or that it is a home invasion scenario portrayed from the perspective of the intruders.
Casting:
Daniel Zovatto joined the cast on May 1st, 2015.On May 22, 2015, Jane Levy and Stephen Lang were cast in the movie, and on June 18, 2015, Dylan Minnette also joined the cast.
Filming:
On June 29, 2015, principal photography commenced. Although the movie is set in Detroit, much of the footage was shot in Hungary; only a small portion was actually shot in Detroit. Lvarez anticipated that the cost of the movie would be around half that of Evil Dead, and he was happy with the shift because it allowed for less studio influence.
Release:
The movie had its world premiere on March 12 at South by Southwest before Screen Gems distributed it in theatres on August 26.
RECEPTION:
Critical Response:
On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an 88 percent approval rating, with 241 reviews and an average rating of 7.30/10.Don’t Breathe “smartly bends its robust idea to offer a satisfyingly tense, unsettling addition to the home invasion genre that’s all the more effective for its simplicity,” according to the website’s critical consensus. Based on reviews from 39 critics, the website Metacritic, which rates reviews, gives the movie a score of 71 out of 100, indicating “generally good reviews.” On a scale from A+ to F, viewers surveyed by CinemaScore gave the movie an average grade of “B+.”
Don’t Breathe is “a powerful exercise in nasty, relentless risk that should please genre enthusiasts,” according to Dennis Harvey of Variety. IGN’s Jim Vejvoda gave it an 8.8 out of 10 and wrote,Don’t Breathe, the latest picture from director Fede Lázarez, is a lean, extremely cruel thrill trip that taps into multiple deep human phobias and further establishes him as a genre filmmaker to watch in the coming years. The movie received three out of four stars from Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers, who also wrote:
“This is some odd, twisted trash. Don’t snort when I mention that the thriller Don’t Breathe is about a house invasion. When it comes to playing with things that go bump in the night, director Fede Lázaro is the best there is. Aside from its shallow characters and occasionally corny moments, Kyle Smith of the New York Post scored the movie three out of four stars.Don’t Breathe is almost flawless.
In a glowing review, Amy Nicholson of MTV stated, “Alvarez knows the scale of his objectives.” He has created a single powerful ghoul, surrounded him with targets, and then just set him loose. [18] According to The Verge, it was “an outstanding script-flip from the 1967 classic Wait Until Dark.” According to Lvarez, before watching Wait Until Dark, he created the script. The “greatest American horror film in twenty years,” according to Jim Hemphill of Filmmaker Magazine.
Box Office:
Against a $9.9 million production budget, Don’t Breathe made $89.2 million in North America and $67.9 million in other countries, for a global total of $157.1 million. The movie had a low production budget, which helped it become a sleeper hit. When all costs and earnings were added up, the movie had a net profit of $59.1 million, making it a significant financial success. Following Sausage Party, it became Sony Pictures’ second late-summer surprise smash of 2016.
On August 26, 2016, Don’t Breathe was released in the United States and Canada. It was initially anticipated to earn between $11 and $14 million from 3,051 theatres in its first weekend, with some estimates reaching $20 million. Many publications noted that it might be the first movie to unseat Suicide Squad from the top spot in the box office. In 2,500 theatres, Thursday night preview showings brought in $1.9 million, while the opening day took in $10 million.
It only dropped by 1.5 percent on Saturday and brought in $9.8 million, which is unusual for R-rated horror movies, which often perform well on their first day and see a big decline in sales from the second day on.Lights Out dropped by 22% and The Conjuring 2 dropped by 15% when compared to other 2016 horror movies. It easily replaced Suicide Squad at the top of the box office after grossing $26.4 million in its opening weekend, exceeding initial expectations by 120 percent. was the greatest Screen Gems August opening ever (beating Takers), the biggest original horror debut of the year (beating 10 Cloverfield Lane), and the biggest R-rated horror movie launch since The Conjuring (2013).
After taking first place, the movie maintained its lead throughout the second weekend, raking in $15.8 million and an anticipated $19.7 million for the four-day Labor Day weekend, one of the highest figures ever for the extended holiday weekend. It consequently became just the second horror movie to win the weekend box office for two straight weekends since 2014. Given that horror movies normally have a second weekend decline of at least 60% or more, the second weekend decrease of merely 40% was an impressive performance. The holiday was to blame for the slow decline. The Evil Dead reboot, Lázaro’s previous feature, was surpassed in just 11 days.
Sully and When the Bough Breaks outperformed the film, which fell to third place in its third weekend despite still having strong holds, dropping 49 percent after adding an additional 333 theaters.
The biggest openings for the movie outside of North America were in the U.K. ($1.3 million), Germany ($1.3 million), Brazil ($1.2 million), Mexico ($1.2 million), and Australia ($1 million). With $4.5 million, it was the third-largest opening for a Hollywood movie in Korea this year. It’s on track to earn more money than any other horror movie in Uruguay.