I think I had put this on my queue on a whim. I didn't know much about it, only that it was a moderately popular recent thriller/horror and thus a possibility for padding out my October viewings. Perhaps I was also mildly intrigued at the plot description, however simple. It certainly wasn't that the film had the same director and big-name producer as Evil Dead (2013), albeit seeking to scale back the violence.
Three young adults have been burglarizing houses, hoping to make enough money to move out of Detroit. They think one more wee-hours job will do the trick: a one-man house in an otherwise abandoned neighborhood. The homeowner is a Gulf War veteran (Stephen Lang) who gained $300K following a car accident that killed his daughter. As they case they joint, they discover that he's also blind. Sounds easy to them, but you already know the warning signs: Somebody picked the wrong house.
The lead burglar of sorts is "Money," sporting a dollar sign tattoo on his neck. He's about as much of a schmuck as he sounds, so it's hardly a spoiler to say he doesn't leave alive. Alex, by contrast, keeps having more and more reservations about what they're doing, out of both pity and fear of reprisal; but being the son of a security company CEO, he's indispensable for break-ins. If any of them gets more audience sympathy, it's the woman oddly nicknamed "Rocky," who really does have a rotten home life to flee with her kid sister. There's something of a love triangle: Rocky's dating Money, but Alex's feelings for her get him to agree to the heist.
It's still unusual for the "victims" in a thriller to be so corrupt; you may well feel sorrier for the hapless, self-defensive vet, at least at first. But he's basically a psychopath. Not a serial killer in the usual sense, just highly vindictive in his personal code of justice. Think of him as a cross between Daredevil and the Punisher, only less badass than either. He doesn't make escape easy, thanks in part to his guard dog (decidedly not from the Seeing Eye).
In fact, while it's debatable who's more evil overall, the vet has already done at least one thing worse than any of the burglars likely ever did, and he attempts to repeat it. I worried how close the film would come to depicting a rape, but the act in question is more complicated -- or less, depending how you look at it. It's certainly unusual and therefore warped. I'm not even sure what the precise legal charges would be. Glad the makers didn't go with their original ending idea.
As the genre goes, it's pretty credible; at no point did I think, "Oh, yeah right." IMDb does point out a number of inconsistencies, whether internal or with reality, but my mind willingly glossed over them at the time.
One of the best aspects of this movie is the enforced method acting. Lang wore contact lenses that hampered his vision, as did the others in a blackout scene that allows the audience preternatural night vision. I also appreciate the camerawork, not least during some long takes.
I doubt DB will scare any criminals straight, nor would I expect it to engender a very thoughtful debate. But it does succeed at maintaining an apt level of intensity.
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