HOLD YOUR BREATH

USA | 2024 | 94m | English

Cast: Sarah Paulson, Amiah Miller, Annaleigh Ashford, Alona Robbins, Ebon Moss-Bachrach

Director(s): Karrie Crouse, Will Joines

In dust bowl Oklahoma of the 1930s, a mother (Paulson) nears the breaking point as she tries to protect her daughters from deadly windstorms and the impact of her own harrowing past. When the older girl tells the legend of the Grey Man to the younger one, the story slips under the skin of the whole family. The Grey Man is a spirit carried like dust in the wind, breathed in, and never to be shaken.

Written by Karrie Crouse and directed by Crouse and Will Joines, Hold Your Breath perches between the supernatural and the psychological, building suspense through Paulson’s layered performance and an enigmatic turn by Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear) as a mysterious, threatening character. Transplanting gothic horror to the story’s parched, midwest landscapes gives the film a deliciously disorienting feel, as if its spookiest elements could be dream or faded memory, or all too frighteningly real.

Courtesy of TIFF

TIFF 24 REVIEW BY: DARREN ZAKUS

DATE: SEPTEMBER 29, 2024

RATING: 3.5 out of 5

Hold Your Breath becomes a thrilling watch thanks to a claustrophobic atmosphere brought to life by the direction, writing and cinematography, but it’s the stellar lead performance of the ever talented Sarah Paulson that truly makes this film a nail-biter.

The horror genre has always had a fascination with myths and legends of supernatural beings and closed off locations that drives characters to extremes, and that is what writer and co-director Karrie Crouse uses as the foundation for the film’s story. Set against the Dust Bowl in the 1930s in the Middle West United States, the film follows Margaret Bellum and her two daughters who live on their secluded homestead struggling with the constant dust storms. There is a supernatural element with the tale of the Grey Man, one specifically created for the film that echoes the cautionary gothic tales that parents used to tell their children in the south, which is balanced against a paranoia created within our main characters from being cut off from society and stuck in the dust storms. The time setting and physical location of the film increase the feeling of isolation and desperation of the story, amplified by strong cinematography that starts with wider shots showing blue skies in the film’s first half that gradually become more constricted in scope and get lost in the roaring dust storms as the film progresses and impressive sound design that puts you in the middle of the dust storm. It creates an unnerving feeling while watching the film, as you are constantly questioning whether the threat of the Grey Man is real, or if it is our characters starting to lose their minds, though directors Crouse and Will Joines always know what is happening and execute their vision with precision. The story may not be the most original tale within the horror genre, as it plays with familiar plot beats and follows a well trodden narrative arc, but under the direction of Crouse and Joines, it becomes a spine-tingling watch arriving right in time for the Halloween season.

As with every role she takes on, Sarah Paulson is nothing short of excellent as Margaret. In every scene, Paulson brings a fierce maternal nature to Margaret as she tries to protect her two daughters from the dust and the Grey Man, while also a sorrow as she mourns the loss of her other child. Paulson is engrossing when ever she is on screen, and as the film enters its second half and the tension begins to boil over, she begins to echo some of the iconic paranoia-based performances in the horror genre such as Jack Nicholson in The Shining, Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby, and Kurt Russell in The Thing. Aimah Miller and Alona Jane Robbins are good as Margaret’s daughters Rose and Ollie, holding their ground against Paulson in their scenes together and developing a great family connection on screen, especially Robbins who is making her film debut. Annaleigh Ashford has a smaller supporting role but is effective as Esther Smith, while Ebon Moss-Bachrach is terrific as Wallace Grady. From the second he arrives on screen, Moss-Bachrach injects the film with a terrifying aspect as you are instantly uncertain of his character’s true intentions, and as more is slowly revealed, your mind much like Margaret’s begins to suspect that he could be the feared Grey Man. It’s all done through an unsettling performance that demands your attention as Moss-Bachrach brings a quiet intensity to the film, allowing him to wonderfully square off against Paulson’s exhilarating performance.

Under the impressive direction of Karrie Crouse and Will Joines, audiences are about to be lost in the centre of a massive storm of dust and paranoia in the latest horror thriller Hold Your Breath. Brought to life by an unsettling atmosphere created by strong cinematography and sound design, that like the dust in the film, this film manages to permeate every defence the audience puts up as this paranoia filled horror thriller led by the terrific Sarah Paulson that makes Hold Your Breath a chilling streaming film for the Halloween season.