DON'T BREATHE

Title : Don't Breathe

Language : English

Release Date : March 12, 2016 (SXSW)

August 26, 2016 (United States)

Directed By : Fede Álvarez

Distributed By : Screen Gems

Stage 6 Films

Don't Breathe is a 2016 American horror film directed by Fede Álvarez and written by Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues. The film stars Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovatto, and Stephen Lang, and focuses on three friends who get trapped inside a blind man's house while breaking into it.

The film was produced by Ghost House Pictures and Good Universe. The film premiered at South by Southwest on March 12, 2016, and was theatrically released on August 26, 2016, by Screen Gems and Stage 6 Films. It received largely positive critical reviews and grossed over $157 million.

Plot

Rocky, Alex, and Money are three Detroit delinquents who make a living by breaking into homes secured by Alex's father's security company and selling the items they take. However, the person buying the stolen goods from Money doesn't give them a fair price, not enough to fund Rocky's dream of moving to California with her little sister, Diddy, to escape their neglectful mother and her alcoholic boyfriend. Money receives a tip that a medically retired US Army Special Forces veteran living in an abandoned Detroit neighborhood has $300,000 in cash in his house, given as a settlement after a wealthy young woman, Cindy Roberts, killed his daughter in a car accident. The three stake out the house and discover that the man is in fact blind, as he was blinded from a blast during the Gulf War.

That night, the three approach the house and drug the Blind Man's dog. Finding all entrances locked, Rocky enters the house through a small window and lets the other two in. The group searches the house for the money but are unable to find it. Money puts a sleeping gas in the Blind Man's bedroom, then, assuming the money is behind a locked door downstairs, shoots the lock. The noise wakes up the Blind Man, who demands to know who else is with Money. Money insists he is alone, and the Blind Man kills him with his own gun. Terrified, Rocky hides in a closet, where she witnesses the Blind Man open a safe to check on his money. After he leaves, she opens the safe and takes the money, which appears to be at least $1 million. The Blind Man however finds Rocky's shoes and realizes that Money was not the only intruder.

Rocky and Alex evade the Blind Man and hurry to the basement. There, they are shocked to find a restrained, gagged woman in a homemade padded cell. Desperate, she shows them a newspaper article about the car accident; they realize that she is Cindy, the rich young woman, held captive by the Blind Man. They free her and run for the storm cellar door, only to be taken off guard by the Blind Man, who mistakenly shoots and kills Cindy. He breaks down crying when he discovers she is dead, sobbing "my baby." Rocky and Alex flee into the cellar while the Blind Man shuts off the lights, plunging them into darkness. After a blind struggle, Alex knocks out the Blind Man, and they flee upstairs.

After blocking the basement door, they encounter the Blind Man's Dog, who has woken. They're unable to unlock the front door in time before the dog attacks them, and are forced to flee into the bedroom, where they're trapped by the barred windows. Rocky escapes the room through a ventilation duct, while the dog attacks Alex, who falls out of a window onto a skylight, going unconscious. When Alex awakens, the Blind Man shoots out the skylight and corners Alex in his utility room, appearing to kill him with a pair of pruning shears. Meanwhile, the dog pursues Rocky through the vents, and she is captured by the Blind Man. She wakes up restrained in the basement like Cindy was, and the Blind Man reveals that Cindy was carrying his child in order to replace the one she killed. He then prepares to artificially inseminate Rocky with a turkey baster, explaining that she will now be the one to give him a child. It is revealed that the Blind Man accidentally stabbed Money's corpse with the shears instead of Alex, who manages to save Rocky and handcuff the Blind Man.

Rocky and Alex are unable to call the police, as their blood is all over the house, so they try to leave through the front door. The Blind Man breaks free and shoots Alex dead. Rocky flees, but is pursued by the dog. She manages to trap the dog in her car trunk, but is recaptured by the Blind Man. Inside his house, Rocky disorients the Blind Man by setting off his house's loud alarm system, then beats him with a crowbar; he inadvertently shoots himself as he falls into the basement. Believing him dead, Rocky escapes before the police arrive.

With the money, Rocky prepares to leave Detroit with Diddy on a train to Los Angeles. Before boarding, she sees a news report stating that the Blind Man killed two intruders (Alex and Money) in his house and is in stable condition at the hospital, but did not report Rocky, Cindy or the stolen money.