A Quiet Place (2018)

“A Quiet Place” stars John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Noah Jupe, and Millicent Simmonds.  Released on April 6, 2018, the film is about a family who hides in an isolated house from mysterious forces that are attracted to sound.

The film is directed by John Krasinski, who also directed Brief Interviews with Hideous Men and The Hollars.  The horror genre started off rough this year with the release of the latest installment in the Insidious franchise.  However, it started to redeem itself a little bit with Alex Garland’s “Annihilation” and Steven Soderbergh’s “Unsane”.  So now it’s Krasinski’s turn to keep the genre's consistent praise going with the latest horror film that took the phrase, “silence is golden”, a bit too seriously.  The film made its premiere at the South by Southwest film festival last month and has garnered a series of glowing reviews for its execution and its originality.  Based on those assumptions, it looks like that this could be another horror masterpiece like last year’s “Get Out”.  Ok, that statement was a bit of a stretch, but is it really as good as people suggested?  To be honest, I’m going to have to go with a yes.

One of the reasons why I think this film is worth seeing was the execution on its concept.  It plays off like an ordinary horror film that’s original and fearful, but it also has good storytelling and characters that are actually worth caring about.  It’s not just about survival without sound, it’s about the parents’ responsibility to raise and train their kids how to survive the outside world.  The film also involves the parents’ deaf daughter (played by Simmonds), who isolated herself because of what happened during the beginning of the film.  Without spoiling it for you guys, I thought that plot element was well-handled and pretty deep largely due to Simmonds’ performance.  Speaking of performances, the four main actors did a great job at making their characters believable, despite the fact that most of their dialogue is American Sign Language.  Krasinski and Blunt were brilliant together as Lee Abbott and Evelyn Abbott, respectively, as well as Noah Jupe as Marcus Abbott.  Krasinski was also a very talented director when it comes to balancing between horror and storytelling.  When there’s a certain moment where it goes into horror territory, like jump scares and stuff, he never lost sight of the story he wants to envision.  Even though the horror aspect of the film didn’t actually scare me to death, its amount of tension and fear that were displayed in the film were enough to fully put myself into that situation.  It really plays off the phobia of surviving without making a single peep, and Krasinski pulls it off without breaking a sweat.  The sound mixing also helped in making the experience a bit more “realistic”, especially with the scenes that involve Simmonds’ character.  The only minor issue I had with the film was its abrupt ending.  I would like to see what happens next, but what can you do?

Overall, “A Quiet Place” showcases John Krasinski’s impressive talent both as an actor and as a remarkable storyteller.  Its blend of horror and storytelling, as well as the performances, prove that silence is indeed golden.  It’s a really entertaining, tension-filled ride that offers a good amount of heart in the process.  If you enjoy well-crafted horror films as well as Krasinski’s other works as a director, this is a worthy recommendation.

A-