Some trailers whisper. This one clenches its fists. Shout Studios has dropped the official trailer for Just Breathe—a prison-aftershock thriller that pits Kyle Gallner against Shawn Ashmore in a sweaty, slow-burn duel over love, survival, and the blurred lines of authority. It’s the kind of film that looks like it was written in cigarette smoke and spite.
The setup sounds almost too on-the-nose: Gallner plays Nick Bianco, a man just released after a year behind bars for assault. He’s determined to restart his life and, more urgently, win back the woman he lost. But she’s no longer waiting. Instead, she’s caught the eye of Chester (Ashmore)—Nick’s parole officer, equal parts rule-enforcer and wolf in sheep’s clothing. The trailer doesn’t dance around the reveal. It straight-up tells you: the “lawman” is meaner, nastier, and possibly more dangerous than the ex-con.
That’s the hook. And it works because Gallner and Ashmore are both actors who thrive in messy grey zones. Gallner, who’s built a career flickering between fragility and menace (Smile, Dinner in America), seems born for the role of a man holding on by his fingernails. Ashmore, still remembered by many for his X-Men turn as Iceman, carries a quiet intensity that here curdles into something unsettling. Watching these two circle each other feels less like standard thriller fodder and more like a bare-knuckle morality test.
Behind the camera is Paul P. Pompa III, making his feature directorial debut. Direct-to-VOD releases often get dismissed, but you can sense Pompa’s eagerness to make an impression—there’s a rawness in the trailer’s pacing, a sense that the film might push harder than its modest platform suggests. Just Breathe hasn’t done the festival circuit (no Sundance midnight, no TIFF sidebar), which almost makes its September 16, 2025 direct-to-VOD release feel like a deliberate provocation: here’s a movie that doesn’t need validation, just eyes.
One stray observation: everyone in this footage looks damp, sweaty. Maybe it’s a stylistic choice, maybe it’s the reality of shooting on location without a blockbuster budget—but it adds to the claustrophobic heat. You can almost smell the asphalt.
Is it groundbreaking? Hard to tell from two minutes of footage. But there’s something refreshingly unvarnished here. A story of obsession and power stripped down to its ugliest terms. Loved the grain. Hated the slightly too-on-the-nose needle-drop. Still intrigued, though.
What You Should Know About Just Breathe
A duel of performances
Kyle Gallner’s desperation against Shawn Ashmore’s quiet cruelty sets the stage for a personal war.
A debut worth noting
Writer-director Paul P. Pompa III makes his first feature after producing shorts, aiming for raw intensity.
A trailer that spoils on purpose
By showing Chester’s true colors early, the film seems less about mystery and more about inevitable collision.
No festival detour
Skipping the indie-festival rounds, the film heads straight to digital release—September 16, 2025.
Tone of heat and grit
From the sweat-sheen cinematography to the claustrophobic cuts, the atmosphere feels tactile, lived-in.
