Blog Post #4 Don't Breathe Case Study

To make my horror short as good as possible, I must look back at some great examples in the genre, to analyze what worked in those fils and how I can integrate those elements into my own film. I will be looking at Fede Alvarez's Don't Breathe (2016). As a fan and regular viewer of the horror film genre Im used to the common storylines and connotations, however this film stood out to me when I watched it. The film created tension excellently and had me tense and genuinely worried for characters I assumed I wouldn't even like, the film also got me with a-couple of its twists which built the horror excellently.

Don't Breathe (2016)

The film's premise follows a group of thieves looking to rob a blind veteran for a life changing amount of money, but everything goes wrong. The first thing that intrigued me with this film was that I was not expecting to side with the thieves, and I had thought Id be more so routing for their victim the blind war vet. However as the characters were further fleshed out, I quickly sided with the protagonists and was routing for them throughout the film. However the main aspect I would like to look at is the tension in the film, and I believe I have pieced together how the film creates it so well. Right off the bat the dynamics of the film are set up to the audience when we learn the victim of the thieves is blind, this sets up the whole conflict of the film. The blind man is introduced to the audience through a-couple scenes all leading up to his first confrontation with the group; first he is seen walking his dog which is highly aggressive and tries to attack the protagonists(setting up the dogs role in the film), and then in the chilling scene where one of the protagonists sneaks into the blind mans room while he is sleeping, but he wakes up instantly noticing something, but falls back to sleep. The second the man wakes up the film goes silent and you can hear every tiny movement made by the characters. 

This film creates such an intense and chilling atmosphere through the excellent set up and execution of the character dynamics, literally forcing the protagonists to hold their breath in order to be quiet and hide form the blind man. In my film I plan to create a similar set up and execution of dynamics of the protagonist and antagonists.