REVIEW – Just Breathe (2025)

Ashmore Goes Full Bad Lieutenant in This Gritty, Suburban Thriller

3 out of 5 stars

By Travis Brown

There’s a strange, slow-burn thrill to Paul “Pomp” Pompa III’s Just Breathe—a film that dips into the familiar waters of domestic drama and then slaps you with a jolt of unexpected menace. Anchored by performances from Kyle Gallner, Sean Ashmore, William Forsythe, and newcomer Emery Crutchfield, this is the kind of film that sneaks up on you—not because of its originality, but because of its bold casting choices and grimy tone.

Gallner plays Nick, a walking stereotype of white, working-class volatility: hard-drinking, quick-tempered, and somehow still dreaming of a better life. That “better life” is Mel (Crutchfield), a beautiful, intelligent Black woman trying to see past Nick’s demons while battling her own disordered eating. The chemistry between them is fragile, strained, and at times, strangely believable.

When Nick lands in prison for an unspecified but clearly destructive mistake, he emerges looking to put the pieces of his life back together. But waiting on the outside is his father Tony (Forsythe, gloriously fried), a relic of Midwestern dysfunction, and a disturbingly unhinged parole officer named Hal, played by Sean Ashmore in a performance that almost tips into genre gold.

Yes—Sean Ashmore. The nice guy from X-Men, The Ruins, The Following. Here, he flips the script as a sadistic, smirking embodiment of authority gone wrong. It’s as if Bad Lieutenant were set in a dusty Illinois duplex and handed a badge and a clipboard. The result is part Lifetime stalker movie, part suburban noir, and part WTF.

The plot isn’t exactly hard to crack—it goes where you expect it to go. But Just Breathe makes up for its predictability with some surprisingly gritty edges and emotionally grounded performances. There’s compulsive lying, trauma, surveillance, class division, and more than a few uncomfortable racial dynamics. Is it polished? Not entirely. Is it worth watching? If you’re into messed-up relationship thrillers with trailer park atmospheres and warped authority figures—absolutely.

We’re giving it a 3 out of 5 here at Horror Movies Uncut. It’s not perfect, but it’s weird enough to earn your attention—especially when Ashmore is on screen.

Just Breathe releases September 16th on digital and on-demand.

JUST BREATHE

Movie opening / launch date: September 16, 2025 (On Demand & Digital in USCAN only)

Cast: Kyle Gallner (Smile, Strange Darling), Shawn Ashmore (X-Men, Darkness Falls), E’myri Crutchfield(Dark Harvest, Fargo), and William Forsythe (The Devil’s Rejects, The Man in the High Castle).

Director: Paul P. Pompa III

Writer: Paul P. Pompa III