Today, let's talk about the movie "Hold Your Breath".
Title Don't Breathe / A Man in the Dark (2016), alias Forbidden Room Killing (Hong Kong) / Temporarily Stop Breathing (Taiwan) / Don't Breathe / Empty Place.
In 2009, Uruguayan director Fede Alvarez produced a sci-fi short film Panic Attack! (Ataque de pánico!, 2009), which caught the attention of Hollywood.
Then he did a decent remake of Evil Dead (2013), and three years later, he surprised everyone with the more original "Hold Your Breath."
"Hold Your Breath" is also a low-cost production, costing only $9.9 million, but it won $26.41 million at the box office.
"Hold Your Breath" topped the U.S. box office charts in its first two weeks of release and remained in the top 10 for six weeks.
Fede Alvarez grew up in Montevideo, Uruguay, and drew inspiration from his own upbringing. While doing research for the film, he watched a video of a blind YouTuber named Tommy Edison.
He said that this film will be significantly different from "Ghost Playing People", it will use less blood, more original stories, create more suspense, and no longer have weird supernatural elements. From the finished film, we can see that the director did what he said. A good script can accurately grasp the audience under the circumstance of taking a small amount of blood.
Rocky, Money, and Alex are three small thieves who specialize in breaking through doors. They choose easy targets, skillfully control the amount of theft, and make sure they get paid without paying. Too much cost.
This time, the three of them chose a blind veteran who lived alone as their target. It is said that the blind old man's daughter died in a car accident, and the old man received a large amount of compensation.
The three thieves decided to start after a lot of stepping. After breaking into the blind old man's house, they discovered that the matter was not simple. The old man living alone hides many hidden secrets.
And in the original conception of the film's creators, a darker ending was depicted.
In that version, Rocky was not able to leave the house, but was locked into a cell by the blind old man. When police came to investigate the burglary, the cell in which she was being held was also not found.
But then everyone felt that this ending was too pessimistic, so it was changed to the current "Rocky Escape", but the blind old man still managed to escape legal punishment.
Also, in an early script for Hold Your Breath, Rocky had a longer backstory, and the blind old man didn't have a dog.
The revised script is more refined and more tense.
"Hold Your Breath" really made the audience "hold your breath", everyone was afraid that if they breathed a little louder, they would be heard by the blind old man.
Among them, the long shots are also very interesting. The audience can have a panoramic view of this old house, but still feel that they cannot escape.
The film keeps the suspense of who will die until the end, and the answer will not be revealed until the last moment.
In Christian legends, the devil sits on the left shoulder of a person and whispers to persuade you to fall into evil, and the angel sits on the right shoulder of a person and whispers to persuade you to do good.
The film visualizes demons and angels.
Mani represents the devil, and Alex represents the angel.
Mani stood on Rocky's left when he died; Alex escaped and returned to save Rocky, standing on Rocky's right when he died.
If you think that the blind old man is just a retired Iraqi veteran, then it's too much to take clothes.
Stephen Lang (Stephen Lang) was not only as simple as serving in Iraq back then, the old man was a macho man in "Avatar" when he was young.
If a few little thieves knew about this level, they would not dare to choose this family to start with...
These little thieves, Rocky, are lazy and lazy. Although they have a seemingly sad family background, this cannot be the reason for their theft and robbery.
The blind old man seems cruel, but it is self-rescue that implements infinite defense in the case of extreme crimes.
The blind old man imprisoning the murderer of his daughter does not meet the requirements of the rule of law society, but it is also a helpless move for the strong in the disadvantaged group.
The audience must not be brought into the perspective of the little thief and have strange empathy.
Stephen Lang wore light-colored contact lenses during the filming of "Hold Your Breath." This greatly limited his vision, especially in low light.
In contrast, in the dark scenes, the other actors wear dark contact lenses that make them appear to have dilated pupils, but also greatly limit their vision.
It looks like a blind man versus a thief, but in reality, both sides are low-sighted.
There are many small easter eggs in "Hold Your Breath".
The street where the blind old man lives is called "Buena Vista", which means "beautiful view" in Spanish.
His safe code is 2978, which is actually the director's birthday: February 9, 1978.
Director Feder Alvarez also played the viola on the film's soundtrack.
I am weak and I am reasonable,
I am the strongest.
This is the distribution center for hardcore movie fans, welcome to pay attention to the public number: Miaokan Film and Television
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