50 Greatest Horror Movies Of The 21st Century

30. Don't Breathe

Get Out Daniel Kaluuya
Screen Gems

Plot: Three criminals break into the home of a blind man to carry out a robbery, but it turns out the man (Stephen Lang) is actually an incredibly dangerous killer.

The title is very appropriate, for you'll definitely forget to breathe during this one.

Excellently directed by Fede Alverez, Don't Breathe gets every possible thrill out of its simple set-up, and delivers a steely, ferocious and harrowingly tense exercise in suspense that's also benefits hugely from Stephen Lang's superb villain. He's among the best horror movie antagonists of the 2010s.

To sum up: simple but, aside from one unnecessarily icky plot element in the latter half, unbelievably effective. Probably best to skip the ill-judged 2021 sequel though.

Contributor

Film Studies graduate, aspiring screenwriter and all-around nerd who, despite being a pretentious cinephile who loves art-house movies, also loves modern blockbusters and would rather watch superhero movies than classic Hollywood films. Once met Tommy Wiseau.