Uruguayan Director Fede Alvarez Reinvents Horror In ‘Don’t Breathe’

Uruguayan director Fede Alvarez, 38, is back with another horror flick—this time, a thriller about a group of thieves who break into the house of a creepy, blind man. Don’t Breathe will be the director and writer’s second feature film, in which he focused on blending thrill and horror, because it’s “the only way to be successful in the genre.”

Alvarez has a long overview of horror films under his belt including his short film Ataque de Pánico! and his reboot of Evil Dead. In an interview with Fox News Latino, he maintains that “If you only do one genre straight forward, you will lose the audience. They know what’s going to happen. As filmmakers, we need to combine both, and that’s when it all works.”

As critical acclaims roll in from multiple sources, the film sets up Alvarez as a director to watch for.

“It’s not that uncommon that someone breaks into your house,” he said. “I’ve always been fascinated by those characters, and I wanted to tell a movie from their point of view and try to understand why they do what they do and why they take the risk and follow them on the adventure when they go to rob.” He continues, “I think the best thriller movies Hollywood has ever produced have had characters with really shady morals […] Those are the most interesting characters.”

The South American-born filmmaker successfully transformed a home invasion into a terrifying piece of film art. He also completely destroys society’s perception of the blind.

“On the surface, [the film] is definitely a fun ride, a thrill ride like a rollercoaster,” explained Alvarez. “But something I am really proud of is that […] we went completely opposite of the stereotype of blind people in movies. I think that is a very powerful thing.”

And as far as Twitter is concerned:

#DontBreathe was great! Extremely suspenseful. I haven’t been that into a movie in a long time.

— KYLE (@GurlsGoneKyle) August 24, 2016

By flipping the home invasion thriller inside out, #DontBreathe scares you in ways you didn’t know you could be scared. Freaky af.

— Logan Burd (@Tweeting_Burd) August 24, 2016

DON’T BREATHE (dir. @fedalvar): This is genre filmmaking of the highest order. I was so tense the whole time that my body is now sore.

— David Chen (@davechensky) August 24, 2016