We don’t learn much about the Dust Bowl period of history in the western part of the US in school; we learn mainly that it happened and people lived through it. But that period in the early 1930’s, is the stuff of nightmares alone if you consider just what the people who lived through it went through. A new thriller hitting Hulu later this week, Hold Your Breath, is set in the middle of the Dust Bowl and will leave you questioning if it’s the elements or something more that is terrorizing this family.
Margaret Bellum (Sarah Paulson) is left to care for her daughters and homestead when her husband leaves their Oklahoma home to find another source of income so they can all leave. After the death of one of their daughters, she refused to come along with them. But the elements and illnesses surrounding them put Margaret more on edge than before. When her daughters start getting consumed and scared of the story of the Grey Man – a man who appears and disappears in the dust tensions rise. Add in a mysterious stranger and it’s a recipe for disaster.
Hold Your Breath is probably one of the closest movies that I could associate with the oft-over-used term thriller lately. The use of the natural elements, the isolation, the music, and of course the possible looming bad guy really do set you on edge through the film. There really isn’t a solid resolution if the isolation caused the issues, the extreme conditions, another condition, or the supernatural bad guy that may be coming for them all. Which will leave you questioning it after the movie. The movie will set you on edge, and that’s the intention, it’ll just be a matter if you can handle it or not.
Hold Your Breath will be streaming on Hulu everywhere on October 3rd.
Overall Rating
Hold Your Breath
If you breathe him in, he’ll make you do terrible things. HOLD YOUR BREATH. Starring Sarah Paulson, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Amiah Miller and Annaleigh Ashford. Streaming only on Hulu October 3rd.