Hoping to walk away with a massive fortune, a trio of thieves break into the house of a blind man who isn’t as helpless as he seems.

So many movies have got so much hype recently and then they end up being a total letdown, because of this it can be difficult to get excited for a new release.

Writer/director Fede Alvarez doesn’t disappoint us, he creates a highly intense and sometimes claustrophobic flick that has you sitting on the edge of your seat throughout the film and rarely lets up.

Stephen Lang gives us a terrifying performance that deserves more recognition and the rest of the cast manage to keep up. I will say that there’s a couple of plot holes but that’s just nitpicking, we can’t have perfection.

Miscellaneous facts about the film:

Stephen Lang wore contact lenses that greatly restricted his vision, particularly in low light. The other actors, in the scene taking place in the dark, wore lenses that made them look like they had dilated pupils but also greatly restricted their vision.

Stephen Lang only has about thirteen lines of dialogue in the whole movie.

The film’s budget was less than $10 million. Two months after release it grossed over $140 million.

The street where the old man lives is called “Buena Vista”. In Spanish this translates to “Good Sight”. The old man is blind.

Exterior shots of the house were filmed in Detroit. Interior shots were filmed 4500 miles away in Pomaz, Hungary – near Budapest.

This film was originally titled “A Man in the Dark.”

The dog was played by three different dogs: Athos, Astor, and Nomad.

This movie pays homage to several classic horror/suspense films from previous decades; two of the most striking: Cujo and Silence of the Lambs. Stephan Lang, the main character, was in the film before Silence of the Lambs: Manhunter.

Director/writer Fede Alvarez, writer Rodo Sayagues, producers Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, composer Roque Baños, and actress Jane Levy all worked on Evil Dead (2013) before this movie.

The title of the film, “Don’t Breathe,” was not revealed until its premiere at SXSW 2016.

Fede Álvarez got inspiration for this movie on growing up in Montevideo, Uruguay.

In Brazil and South Korea the film is called “Man in the Dark”, which was the original English working title.

Jane Levy and Dylan Minnette, both starring in the movie, share the same birthday (December 29).

Like in Evil Dead (2013) there’s a Club Atlético Peñarol flag, Álvarez uruguayan football club.

Was number #1 in the U.S. Box Office for the first two weeks of release and stayed in the top 10 for six weeks.

Dylan Minnette and Daniel Zovatto previously appeared together on an episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013).

The character of Rocky was featured on PopSugar’s list of 18 “Final Girl” Halloween Costumes Only Badasses Can Pull Off ranking at number 4.

The films plot is vaguely similar to an episode of Arrested Development in which Dr. Tobias Funke breaks into Maggie Lizer’s house to steal legal documents.

Money’s pistol is a semi-automatic Beretta M9A1 9×19 millimeter bore. The standard magazine for this firearm is a 15-round double-stack box magazine.

In the trailer, the blind man utters the line, “Now you’re going to see what I see.” In the movie, this line is not said at all.

The combination to the Blind Man’s safe, 2978, is actually director Fede Alvarez’s birthday – Feb. 9, 1978

A wall in one of the bedrooms has letters on it that spell “Emma”. Which implies the name of the Blind Man’s deceased daughter.
The creators of the film initially had an even darker ending in mind but The writers thought that the ending was too downbeat, so they changed it.

In contrast to his previous work on Evil Dead, director Alvarez decided this movie would have less blood, an original storyline, more suspense, and no dependence on spooky supernatural elements – which he felt was currently overused.