Don't Breathe
Screen Gems | Release Date: August 26, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 39 Critic Reviews
Positive:
31
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerAug 25, 2016
A home invasion story that is as artfully terrifying as "Home Alone" was entertainingly hilarious. Read full review
88
The Seattle TimesKatie WalshAug 25, 2016
The tension never lets up and the shocking twists in the story need to be seen to be believed. Read full review
83
MTV NewsAmy NicholsonAug 25, 2016
Don’t Breathe is a small delight, like stumbling across a shiny silver dollar. Read full review
83
The VergeTasha RobinsonAug 25, 2016
Like the best claustrophobic thrillers, the film keeps finding clever new ways to complicate what initially seems like a limited setting with limited story options. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyChristian Holub Aug 25, 2016
Thought-provoking but rather lacking in the second-by-second scares genre fans tend to expect. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Aug 24, 2016
Half a century after "Wait Until Dark" pitted a blind Audrey Hepburn against the three crooks trying to get into her apartment, along comes Don’t Breathe to successfully invert its scenario. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnAug 12, 2016
This elegant and surprisingly fast-paced blend of horror and suspense overcomes some of its more ridiculous ingredients thanks to endless invention. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinAug 26, 2016
There isn’t a single false scare. There isn’t, come to think of it, a scare that doesn’t set up another scare. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangAug 25, 2016
[Alvarez is] a master at orchestrating tension in close quarters, at painting his characters into a corner one minute and dangling them out a window the next. Read full review
80
The GuardianJordan HoffmanAug 25, 2016
Don’t Breathe is a master class in tension, and while its script could have been written on the back of an envelope, its editing and use of sound design is a triumph for film theorists. Read full review
80
EmpireKim NewmanAug 22, 2016
An intense, streamlined exercise in gruesome thrills, with a tiny glimmer of social context (it’s all about the economy) which doesn’t take away from the exciting struggle to get out of this house of horrors. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsEdward DouglasAug 17, 2016
With his second film, Alvarez has mastered the tension of Hitchcock and the misdirection of a magician, proving himself to be a filmmaker of merit even when dealing with more realistic horrors. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeAug 12, 2016
A trapped-in-a-house thriller pitting thieves against an unexpectedly resourceful victim, the lean and mean pic offers scares aplenty and at least a couple of game-changing twists. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniAug 25, 2016
One of the most suspenseful, terrifying, and devilishly original horror pics in recent memory. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversAug 25, 2016
What makes this so memorably nerve-frying is the way Alvarez and cinematographer Pedro Luque use night-vision and every trick in the book and ones not invented yet to trap us in their vise. Claustrophobics, you've been warned. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle SmithAug 25, 2016
Apart from its thin characters and occasional trite moments, as well as a silly attempt to set up a sequel, Don’t Breathe is just about perfect. It’s as lean and relentless as the best John Carpenter films. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoAug 25, 2016
It’s best to accept Don’t Breathe as simply a piece of lowdown fun — connoisseurs of creepy and sometimes brutal chills will have a good time. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 25, 2016
Don’t Breathe is an impressively photographed, well-acted, relentlessly paced horror film sure to sicken some and delight others with its twisted sense of humor. Read full review
75
Tampa Bay TimesJimmy GeurtsAug 25, 2016
Many of the movie's scariest moments come from the skillful use of silence or the increasingly limited space the characters inhabit. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoAug 25, 2016
Like a lot of films of this breed, Don’t Breathe gets a little less interesting as it proceeds to its inevitable conclusion, replacing tension with shock value, but it works so well up to that point that your heart will likely be beating too fast to care. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanAug 25, 2016
Director Fede Alvarez (who did the “Evil Dead” remake) masterfully sustains a little more than an hour of shocks. Eventually, though, he resorts to the ideas lazy or unobservant filmmakers employ. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 24, 2016
I could have done without a talky, explain everybody’s motivations third act. But there’s no getting around the crowd-pleasing nature of the bloody, vengeful and self-righteous wrath that rains down upon one and all in the finale. Read full review
70
The New York TimesAnita GatesAug 25, 2016
It will probably please fans of this simple genre with its solid suspense, murky lighting and “gotcha!” scares. Read full review
70
ScreenCrushBritt HayesAug 25, 2016
Alvarez has crafted an intense, relentless and confident thriller that only occasionally fails. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 25, 2016
Alvarez puts us in the interesting position of rooting for the bad guy, and continually changing our ideas of who that is, a genuinely intriguing idea. Don’t Breathe doesn’t always live up to that potential, but for much of the movie it comes close. Read full review
70
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlAug 24, 2016
Alvarez proves adept at springing surprises in these moments, a skill that combines all the art and technique of moviemaking with the architecture of 3D level-planning and the carny showmanship of building a professional haunted house. Read full review
70
VarietyDennis HarveyAug 12, 2016
A muscular exercise in brutal, relentless peril that should please genre fans. Read full review
63
Washington PostPat PaduaAug 25, 2016
Despite the violence, the real horror of Don’t Breathe may be the sense of futility that all its characters feel, whether they can see or not. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 25, 2016
The film is a clever if increasingly mechanical suspense contraption, yanking our sympathies this way and that, before turning into a different sort of movie entirely. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezAug 21, 2016
The film's sustainment of its corkscrew tension is so elegant and methodical as to feel dance-like. Read full review
62
TheWrapMichael NordineAug 25, 2016
Don’t Breathe makes a striking first impression but overstays its welcome. Read full review
60
Total FilmJordan FarleyJan 21, 2017
Lang makes an intimidating antagonist, but a silly final act ends things on a sour note Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfAug 25, 2016
For 
the most part, you’re in the hands of a capable lunatic who has a tale to tell. Read full review
58
The Film StageDaniel SchindelAug 25, 2016
Don’t Breathe makes for a very fun little thriller, though it also veers into being exceptionally stupid or eye-rollingly gross (although admittedly, it is sometimes more than one of these things simultaneously) Read full review
58
The PlaylistCharlie SchmidlinAug 12, 2016
Alvarez’s visual flair and handle on tone can only mask his paper-thin characters and motivations for so long. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTom RussoAug 25, 2016
An original thriller about a home-invasion robbery gone wrong. To clarify, that would be “wrong” as in “not according to plan” – but also “wrong” as in “so dementedly repugnant, it just isn’t right.” Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezAug 25, 2016
You start out fearing Don’t Breathe, but by the end you’re laughing at it — and the humor is not intentional. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAug 24, 2016
More methodical than innovative, Don’t Breathe is nevertheless an effective suspenser. Read full review
42
ConsequenceMarten CarlsonAug 12, 2016
There is an unpredictability to the film that is, at times, refreshing. This unpredictability turns into meandering, however, leading to narrative incoherence at many points. Read full review
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