In 2016, Fede Álvarez released the follow-up to his feature-length debut Evil Dead. This time around, though, the story was original and the movie was in no way a remake. Don’t Breathe premiered at the South by Southwest film festival in 2016 before hitting theaters that following August, with a sequel being released just shy of exactly 5 years later.
Don’t Breathe follows three small-time criminals subsisting on break-ins against a bleak view of the economic landscape in Detroit. They break into a house they suspect to contain a small fortune. But unfortunately for the thieves, the blind homeowner is prepared to protect his home — and a dark personal secret — at all costs. For anyone who loved this sinister subversion of the home invasion story, there are many great movies like Don’t Breathe to be found across various streaming services.
A Quiet Place (2018)
● Available on Paramount+
John Krasinski made a blockbusting debut as a horror director with this science-fiction story set in a post-apocalyptic world that’s become overrun by armored alien monsters that hunt by sound.
Any fan of the moments of the silent, pin-drop, tension in Don’t Breathe will surely have a blast with A Quiet Place and its whole little world built around evading detection. The story is no slouch either, providing the talented cast with plenty of drama to work with and making it clear that no one is safe from sudden and violent death.
Them (2006)
● Available on Vudu and Prime Video
Fans of the simplicity of the location and the swift effectiveness of the plot will definitely want to check out this almost ascetic home invasion horror movie about a couple being terrorized by a group of shapeless interlopers in their secluded country home.
Them is packed with long stretches of tense evasion whilst never feeling cheap in its execution of the scares with the most horrific aspects of the story leaving a distinct impression. It’s a must-see home invasion movie for fans of Don’t Breathe.
Green Room (2015)
● Available on Showtime
The feeling of anxiety in Don’t Breathe works so well not just because of the unforgivingly graphic consequences for mistakes but also because the audience is able to feel sympathy for some of the characters going through the ordeal. These are both attributes shared by Jeremy Saulnier’s viciously tense horror-thriller, Green Room.
The story follows a punk band as they get cornered in the green room of a shady and secluded venue that, unfortunately for them, acts as the front for a white supremacist gang. It’s a horrible situation but the band are a great group to go through it with, even if they meet undeserved fates, with Anton Yelchin shining in one of his final film performances.
Crawl (2019)
● Available on Hulu
Home invasion horror meets monster movie in this story of a father and daughter trapped inside their old family home by a hurricane and pursued at every turn by ravenous alligators that have taken over the flooded area.
The gory reputation that New French Extremity director Alexandre Aja has developed for himself and the dramatic potential of the strong leading talents of Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper are satisfyingly lived up to so fans of Don’t Breathe will enjoy the stakes of the story as much as the shock of the kills.
The Descent (2005)
● Available on Tubi, Pluto TV, Vudu, and Prime Video
Any fans of the sheer brutality of the action and horror in Don’t Breathe will appreciate the intensity of Neil Marshall’s The Descent, a monster movie that sees a group of thrill-seeking cave explorers getting trapped with a group of mandating monsters that evolved to live in the dark.
There’s a big focus on the psychology of the characters in The Descent, with the reality being questioned in some way almost constantly throughout, but the horror is always gutwrenchingly up-close-and-personal.
Deadly Games (1989)
● Available on Shudder and AMC+
In the French action-horror film Deadly Games, a young boy defends his home from a deranged man dressed as Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. The movie involves the child setting homemade booby traps to catch his foe in one of its numerous similarities to Home Alone.
Deadly Games is, however, much more violent than the perennially popular MacCauley Culkin movie and should be of great interest to Don’t Breathe fans as a result.
Hush (2016)
● Available on Netflix
After the age of thirteen, Maddie lost her hearing and the ability to speak. Now as an adult, she is an author who lives in an isolated house in the woods. One night, a masked prowler shows up around the house. Once he realizes his would-be victim cannot hear him nor can she speak, this homicidal intruder removes his mask and adjusts his plan.
Hush bears a number of similarities to Don’t Breathe not just in the cat and mouse dynamic between the main characters but also in its self-contained setting, extracting maximum impact from a relatively simple location.
The Collector (2009)
A handyman named Arkin is in severe debt so he stakes out a wealthy family’s house that he works at. However, when he breaks in at night, he finds the homeowners caught in elaborate and deadly traps set by someone in a mask. The tables are now turned and Arkin is emboldened to save his former employers.
The Collector is as outlandish as the Saw-like traps seen in the film. Like Don’t Breathe, it’s a vicious and original take on the home invasion movie where an antihero is given the ultimate chance for redemption. A sequel called The Collection was released in 2012, and another entry titled The Coll3cted is currently in the works.
Panic Room (2002)
● Available on Pluto TV, Prime Viedo, and Showtime
A single mother and her daughter move into a beautiful Manhattan brownstone with a built-in panic room and this amenity definitely comes in handy when criminals break in shortly after they move in. Unfortunately for the new homeowners, the thieves are after something hidden inside the panic room.
Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart go head to head with Jared Leto and Forest Whitaker in this highly enjoyable suspense thriller that never relents the tension. This anxiety-inducing movie is rife in back-and-forth drama and action. In addition to Foster nailing her role as the protective mother, Leto serves up an unforgettable performance as the bungling villain who has a number of similarities with the in-over-his-head Money in Don’t Breathe.
You’re Next (2011)
● Available on Hulu
During an awkward family dinner held inside a remote mansion, the guests are attacked by armed men hiding behind animal masks. Much like the thieves in Don’t Breathe, these savage trespassers, however, failed to realize one of the dinner guests is a highly trained survivalist. Now with her prowess and an assortment of make-do weapons at her disposal, the lone woman systematically picks off the killers.
Adam Wingard’s You’re Next nails the fine line that rests between horror and comedy. Through that, this slasher adds a steady sense of gallows humor to all the unadulterated mayhem and bloodshed of a thriller movie like Don’t Breathe.
