Gritty Detroit based horror film”Don’t Breathe,” the latest scary flick to have an impressive box office showing, opened Thursday to good reviews and online enthusiasm for being a taut, claustrophobic thriller.  The film, from Sony’s Screen Gems and Steve Bersch’s Stage 6 Films, earned $10 million on Friday at 3,051 locations, and is eyeing a $22 million opening weekend.

“Don’t Breathe”, the latest in a slew of movies to use Detroit in a fictional story or as a filming location — sometimes both — for something ominous and scary is keeping Detroit on the big screen, even now that  production work here has dried up with the elimination of Michigan’s film incentives.

Director and coscreenwriter Fede Alvarez says in the film’s production notes that the Motor City’s empty lots and deserted homes add to the film’s unique character.

The horror genre proves to be frighteningly reliable this season. As long as it does so,  perhaps Detroit will have a place in upcoming movies.