The latest pulse-pounding sensation taking the cinema by storm is the Bill Skarsgård and Anthony Hopkins-led action thriller Locked, which features the Nosferatu star as a cocky carjacker who discovers he is in over his head after he becomes trapped in a greatly modified car belonging to an enigmatic sociopath looking to teach the thief a brutal lesson. A remake of the Argentinian film 4×4, Locked has already earned promising reviews and is leaving audiences squirming in their seats as they watch in terror as Skarsgård fights for the upper hand.
The thriller’s gripping premise is reminiscent of a 2016 horror hit that also dominated the silver screen, with Fede Álvarez’s deeply unnerving hit Don’t Breathe focusing on a young thief and her friends who find themselves in a terrifying situation after attempting to rob a blind veteran of his secret stash, only to realize they’re trapped and being hunted by the older man. The ominous and twisted flick is the perfect follow-up for fans looking for another juicy psychological thriller like Locked, and it’s sure to leave audiences’ hearts racing.
‘Don’t Breath’ Is a Spine-Tingling Spin on the Home Invasion Thriller
Evil Dead mastermind Fede Álvarez continued his hair-raising takeover of the silver screen when he directed the chilling 2016 horror hit Don’t Breathe, enlisting a small-yet-mighty cast led by Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovatto, and Stephen Lang to help bring his pulse-pounding tale to life. In the unnerving film, Detroit thieves and close friends Rocky, Alex, and Money find themselves in way over their heads after they boldly set out to rob blind Gulf War veteran Norman Nordstrom (Lang) of his alleged $300,000 stash of money hidden in his home.
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The scheming trio quickly realize all is not what it seems when they shockingly become trapped in Norman’s secluded home and are hunted by the surprisingly formidable man, only to discover that the vet has many dark and sordid secrets lurking within the walls. The young intruders must prepare for a harrowing fight for their lives as Norman begins to show them he’s not as vulnerable and easy of a target as they first anticipated, and they must keep their wits and resolve if they want to survive the night.
‘Don’t Breathe’ Becomes a Sensational Sleeper Hit
Fede Álvarez set out to make Don’t Breathe as a response to some of the scrutiny and criticism he received for his popular directorial debut Evil Dead, which many felt was far too bloody and disturbing. The determined filmmaker teamed up with frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues to come up with the taut, completely original storyline for Don’t Breathe, setting out to craft a deeply suspenseful and unnerving movie that focused more on building anxiety as opposed to simply relying on gore and shock value to pack a terrifying punch. Álvarez wanted to completely put audiences on edge with the anxiety-inducing flick, telling ComingSoon.net:
“When the main characters step into someone’s domain it’s tense and eerie for some reason… When you walk into someone’s domain, it’s their rules, the king of the house can do whatever they want. That kind of triggered the idea of telling the story of three robbers.”
Álvarez also described Don’t Breathe as an “exercise in reversal” as it brilliantly subverts common tropes by having the intense film be told from the perspective of the intruders while also taking place in a “nice house on a scary street” as opposed to the more overly-done opposite. The director also said that making the antagonist Norman blind takes away some of his abilities and adds a thrilling element instead: “Sometimes you naturally give them powers and make them more menacing than a normal person, so we thought what if we do the other way around and take his eyes out and make him a blind person.”
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Don’t Breathe made its exhilarating premiere at South by Southwest before making its way to theaters, leaving moviegoers on the edge of their seats and terrified to move a muscle as they watched the thieves have the tables turned on them and become the hunted prey. The frightening flick became a sleeper hit and grossed a whopping $157.8 million against a modest $9.9 million budget, attracting praise for its chilling screenplay, ominous atmosphere, and unexpected twists and turns while earning an impressive 88% Rotten Tomatoes score and winning Best Horror Film at the Saturn Awards.
Rolling Stone wrote in their rave review: “This is some weird, twisted sh*t. Don’t groan when I say Don’t Breathe is a home-invasion thriller. Director Fede Álvarez is as good as it gets when it comes to playing with things that go bump in the night.” Due to its enviable critical and commercial success, the 2021 follow-up Don’t Breathe 2 was released (directed by Sayagues), though it did not garner the same appreciation from critics and fans as its predecessor but nonetheless fared well at the box office; a third spine-tingling sequel is currently in the works centered on Stephen Lang’s resilient and imposing character.
How To Watch ‘Don’t Breathe’
Horror aficionados and fans of the talented Fede Álvarez can stream his 2016 sleeper hit on Starz and Philo, and they can also rent or buy the pulse-pounding flick on Prime Video, Apple TV+, and Fandango. Locked is in theaters now.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
