Horror film so scary viewers 'couldn't breathe' watching it now available to stream at home

A chilling horror flick that left audiences short of breath is now ready to stream from the comfort of your sofa, perfectly timed for Halloween.

Don't Breathe, which hit screens back in August 2016, tells the nail-biting tale of a trio of robbers who plan an easy heist by targeting the home of a blind man rumoured to be sitting on a fortune.

What seems like a straightforward burglary turns into a nightmare when the visually-impaired homeowner, who has elite military training, turns the tables and begins to hunt the intruders, with them using his lack of sight as their only edge.

The film boasts a cast including Jane Levy (known from Shameless), Dylan Minnette (13 Reasons Why) and Daniel Zovatto (It Follows), and has been lauded by horror fans, holding an impressive 88% score on Rotten Tomatoes. It also bagged the title of Best Horror Film at the Saturn Awards and scooped up a nomination at the Critics' Choice Awards for Best Sci-fi/Horror Movie.

Praise was heaped upon the feature by cinema experts who applauded writer-director Fede Álvarez, who recently directed Alien: Romulus, for crafting a movie filled with unbearable tension, reports .

Jordan Hoffman of The Guardian marvelled at his work saying: "Fede Álvarez's simple housebound horror film is sparse on dialogue but its editing and sound design lend to a slow roll of dread that makes it a triumph".

Peter Travers threw compliments too in his take for Rolling Stone: "Silence is not only golden in this house of horrors - it can save your life, and besides, no one can hear you scream. Not even the Saw films dreamed up anything this surgically scary."

Horror buffs swear by the movie, with Letterboxd boasting over 35,000 viewer reviews.

A fan reported: "Don't Breathe does exactly what it sets out to do and that's to terrify the audience, make you cry, and or make you crawl up into the foetal position. Chances are very high that you will experience at least one of those things if not more."

Another offered their praise: "Impeccably made. There are at least a dozen sequences in this that are worth more than most of the horror movies I've ever seen. A creaky floorboard caused my heart to skip a beat, and I was genuinely locked in a state of terror until the credits rolled. And this happens every time I watch. Unreal."

Yet another added succinctly: "I actually couldn't breathe the entire time."

Raking in over $157 million globally, Don't Breathe saw its sequel hit the screens in 2021 under new directorial guidance.

Don't Breathe is available to watch on Sky Cinema or stream on NOW