Movie Review: ‘Hold Your Breath’

Sarah Paulson anchors the new thriller as Margaret, a woman trying to survive in the 1930’s dust bowl who suspects that the atmosphere is carrying an evil presence.

Sarah Paulson in 'Hold Your Breath'. Photo: Searchlight Pictures.

Premiering on Hulu from October 3rd, ‘Hold Your Breath’ represents the second film is as many months that focuses on a mother desperately trying to keep her children safe from an evil presence outside their home, even as not everyone completely believes that it’s true.

With Sarah Paulson offering a commanding central performance, the movie is sometimes a little too slow burn for its own good but has a convincing sense of dread.

Will ‘Hold Your Breath’ make you hold yours?

Sarah Paulson in 'Hold Your Breath'. Photo: Searchlight Pictures.

Though it was written before the pandemic, there’s a certain timeliness to ‘Hold Your Breath’s story of fears about something nasty from the outside getting into your home. And then there is the dual concept of motherhood as a driving survival instinct and the potential that the lurking threat is more a mental health issue than concrete evil, as explored recently in Halle Berry-starring horror thriller ‘Never Let Go’ (there is even a shared idea of attaching yourself by rope to your abode, though here it’s more a navigational aide).

‘Hold Your Breath’ tackles the character work in more accomplished fashion than ‘Never Let Go,’ though that’s primarily thanks to the efforts of writer and director Karrie Crouse and of star Sarah Paulson, who make her role more well-rounded than director Alexandre Aja’s effort.

Script and Direction

Ebon Moss-Bachrach in 'Hold Your Breath'. Photo: Searchlight Pictures.

Karrie Crouse wrote the script and joins forces with creative partner/husband William Joines to jointly direct the new thriller.

If there’s a major issue with ‘Hold Your Breath,’ it’s that it really pushes the idea of the slow-burn thriller to such a degree that it feels like the gas is set to “low.” Long takes and sedate scenes do help to grow the dread levels, but the result is also a tone verging on frustrating, even with the odd shock dotted throughout. If you’re looking for a rollicking thriller with dynamic pacing, go elsewhere, but the movie still has plenty to offer.

Striking visuals –– achieved primarily with practical effects and some digital assistance, give the movie a claustrophobic, windswept quality, making the 1930s setting fully believable and helping the power the story, which carries its themes of mental health, paranoia and suspicion effectively.

Performances

Sarah Paulson is the standout here, but she is aided by the actors playing her daughters and a creepy turn from ‘The Bear’s Ebon Moss Bacharach.

Sarah Paulson as Margaret Bellum

Sarah Paulson in 'Hold Your Breath'. Photo: Searchlight Pictures.

Paulson has been putting in excellent, awards-worthy performances for years, and while ‘Hold Your Breath’ seems unlikely to bother trophy lists outside of genre categories, it’s worth noting how committed and intense her portrayal of Margaret is.

She’s a woman facing the challenges of the man-made climate disaster of the 1930s, her family’s farm suffering the impact of howling dust storms and withering crops. Add to that the absence of her husband, away looking for work and the need to protect her daughters from the terror she suspects is swirling within the dust and you have a compelling central character whose anguish is both relatable and believable.

As the tension ratchets up, Paulson makes every turn work, and Margaret remains sympathetic even in the face of her increasing desperation.

Amiah Miller as Rose Bellum

Amiah Miller in 'Hold Your Breath'. Photo: Searchlight Pictures.

A veteran of ‘War for the Planet of the Apes,’ Miller here has a slightly more thankless role than Paulson, playing the elder daughter largely called upon to worry about her younger sibling and act terrified at whatever is happening at any given moment. Still, she does well in the role, imbuing Rose with a real sense of burgeoning responsibility and making her fear understandable in the face of what happens to the family.

Alona Jane Robbins as Ollie Bellum

The younger Bellum daughter has more to her than Rose; as a Deaf girl (played well by Deaf actor Robbins), she’s even more at threat from the dangers lurking beyond the doors. Robbins combines a healthy amount of fear in the part with mastering some unfamiliar, period-specific sign language, and while she isn’t asked to do much than react for the majority of the running time, she handles the role with aplomb.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach Wallace Grady

Ebon Moss-Bachrach in 'Hold Your Breath'. Photo: Searchlight Pictures.

The role of Grady, the mysterious man discovered by Margaret lurking in the Bellum farm’s barn and claiming to know her husband, is a solid one for Moss-Bacharach. It might not have the nuance of ‘The Bear’s Ritchie, but it offers him the chance to play a similarly conflicted character. Is he a threat? He certainly appears to be, yet he also seems to be able to heal both Rose’s breathing issues and the family’s slowly-starving cow.

Supporting cast

Around the central family and Wallace, there are a few notable performances, including Annaleigh Ashford as Esther Smith, Margaret’s sister-in-law who initially seems to be suffering delusions of her own and puts her family at risk. Ashford is suitably nervy in the role, playing well off of Paulson. Arron Shiver as Sheriff Bell is an upright and decent support as the local lawman, while the various other women of the tiny community are good at the mixture of busybody concern and suspicion that such period pieces often contain.

Final Thoughts

Sarah Paulson in 'Hold Your Breath'. Photo: Searchlight Pictures.

It won’t push the needle much in terms of this year’s horror offerings, but the visuals are good enough that you do wish it had seen the inside of a theater instead of heading straight to streaming.

A powerful main performance and some excellent effects work make this one worth checking out.

‘Hold Your Breath’ receives 7 out of 10 stars.

Hold Your Breath

"There's something evil in the air."

R1 hr 34 minOct 3rd, 2024

Watch Hold Your Breath Online

What is the plot of ‘Hold Your Breath’?

In 1930s Oklahoma, a young mother (Sarah Paulson ) haunted by the past becomes convinced that a mysterious presence in dust storms is threatening her family and takes extraordinary measures to protect them.