LogFAQs > #965160826

20. Don't Breathe (256 points)

Why I Chose It: One of the biggest successes of the decade both critically and commercially, Don't Breathe was also one of the decade's many films to highlight a specific sense or senses - in this case, sight & sound. Don't Breathe offered an unflinching portrayal of Detroit & the lower-class, PTSD, and how tragedy effects us all while delivering it through a complete cast of gray-moral characters, making it a film that played as much to horror as it did a modern-day drama piece.

Plasmabeam: 4
Tom Nook: 4
jcgamer107: 9
BetrayedTangy: 17
rockus: 17
thesmark: 17
fortybelowsummer: 19
Johnbobb: 19
Snake: 19
Inviso: 20
Lightning Strikes: 20
red13n: 21
PrinceKaro: 22
FFDragon: 23
Suprak: 25

Plasmabeam - This is how you do a haunted house story. Ditch all the usual cliches and create a scenario where the monsters become the victims and the victim becomes the monster. I love the use of characterization and moral ambiguity in this one. And the turkey baster scene will likely never be purged from my memory bank.

Tom Nook - This is a great movie for a couple simple reasons. It takes the familiar, but turns enough of it on its head to make the whole thing refreshing. Then add in possibly the most iconic new horror villain of the 2010s, and you have a big success! It takes the home invasion concept, but instead, the main villain is the one being invaded. I really had no sympathy for the 3 "good guys" though, no matter what sob story they tried to sell me. This lead to me rooting for the villain, who was just a poor blind guy living by himself who's daughter died. They eventually show us that he is in fact quite a monster himself! But that doesn't change me rooting for him, because thieves are scum. The whole thing played out in a suspenseful and satisfying way.

Jcgamer107 - One of the most tense theater experiences Ive ever had. A friend who was there with me nearly walked out at the uh.baster scene, and I cant hardly blame her. For me though: just fucked up enough. Theres great horror to be found in going even deeper past the initial premise into something much worse. Full of well-shot suspense sequences, and perfectly captures Detroit as a desolate hellhole.

BetrayedTangy - I have to respect the decision to use a much smaller cast of characters here. Most horror flicks will have characters whose only purpose is to be killed off. Dont get me wrong I love when a movie can come up with a whole slew of creative kills, but theres something refreshing about the back and forth between Rocky/Alex and the Old Man. It feels like a fight for survival from both sides and not just this unstoppable thing slaughtering a bunch of defenseless people. In fact, I find it pretty funny that they had to make the guy a fucking rapist, just so dont have any sympathy for him. I also really like when movies have the movie pretty much start at night and it ends in the morning. A lot of movies on the list do it to some degree, but I think Dont Breathe does it the best. The darkness is used so well throughout the entire movie and really puts into perspective how much we rely on our eyesight. Then once were finally given the light of a new morning and Rocky thinks shes safe we get the awesome shot of the dog running out of the house and realize the danger is still there.

Rockus - Dont Breathe proves that you can have a pretty solid movie even when the writing isnt all that good. After the movie establishes some perfunctory motivations for two of its leads it throws a wrench into their break-in schemes by having their third wheel be pretty much the dumbest guy youll see in one of the movies on this list, and thats saying a lot. However, Fede lvarez puts together a pretty solid thriller once everyone shuts up. Assured direction and well established understanding of space makes the second half of this worth seeing. He begins to run out of tricks and turns in the last twenty minutes where it feels like he could have ended it sooner but its still a pretty decent movie overall.

Thesmark - Begins by painting a slightly sympathetic portrait of home robbers (well, 2 of them, one is just an asshole) out to make one last big score at a blind guys house so they can get out of their shitty situations and move to Californiathat of course goes horribly wrong and THEN turns into a horror film. The premise when they break into the house is kind of like Wait Until Dark except instead of Audrey Hepburn, its buff Iraq war vet Stephen Lang the robbers are dealing with. Early on, theres a oner that, while not technically impressive because it clearly involved digital trickery, does a great job of giving us a sense of the geography of the house that will come into play for the rest of the film. And for most of it, its a really good tense thriller where the hunters become the prey and Stephen Lang is great; however, in the last 20 minutes it takes a turn in a pretty fucked up direction and the idea of there being a Dont Breathe 2 where Lang is the good guy is INSANE. I mean, the turn does shift our alligences towards the robbers (which is a whole can of worms in itself), but Im not a fan at all. The first hour is strong enough that it lands in the middle of my list though.

Fortybelowsummer - Suspenseful and kept me on the edge of my seat, especially when the lights went out and blind psycho guy gains the advantage. I downloaded this years ago and never got around to watching it because it didnt seem overly interesting. Id say I was pleasantly surprised, and it was well directed and well-acted. The girl in the basement was a good twist that raised the stakes and revealed the true danger that the characters were in. As far as home invasion horror (I didnt actually realize that was considered a specific sub-genre until recently) there are better examples, but this one is definitely unique and worth a watch.

Johnbobb - One of the handful of great horror movies on this list that absolutely did not need a sequel. In fact, this might have honestly sat better in my mind had they not made a sequel! Don't Breathe does a really interesting thing juggling who the "victim" of the movie is. By all means, the blind man being robbed by a few 20-somethings should be the victim, but of course he turns the tables on them. Even then, it's hard to chalk him up as the villain, because he is of course still the one whose home is being broken into. Then you see it, and any sympathy you might've had for him is gone, leaving him as one of the most memorable horror antagonists of the decade.

Snake - A nice little thriller, straight-forward with one MAJOR twist thrown in close to the end of the run time. Its easily the most memorable part of the film, a disgusting capstone on a film that otherwise was playing it pretty straight and safe to be honest. And I mean disgusting in a good way - the horror is completely flipped on its head, the home-burglars never had a chance. The use of lighting or lack of it really is excellent and so is the solid use of sound throughout. The fact they used real Detroit locations just adds SO MUCH atmosphere to the film as well. I do look back fondly on this film and I think its way better than the sequel, yet at the same time it doesnt have that next special step up I think to make it a top-tier favorite for me. Definitely solid though.