Review: A Quiet Place

​Don’t make a sound… A Quiet Place is an astonishing movie. This original creature feature will ruthlessly keep you on the edge of your seat from the first frame until the last. 

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​Actor-director John Krasinski (The Office and director of The Hollars) has proven his talent in his second feature length film, A Quiet Place. Krasinski along with his wife, actress Emily Blunt, play fictional husband and wife in this scary new picture. The dynamic is great, as the two have an already developed relationship outside the screen. Both Krasinski and Blunt’s raw performances will knock you off your feet. It was a film that I was not expecting to be up to this kind of grand magnitude. The silence used as a center piece in the film was brilliant. It kept me on the edge, while Krasinski was tightly building the tension and suspense throughout. And, as for Blunt’s performance? It was a complete tour de force for her. Exceptional in every way with her silent emotions running wild, it will frazzle your inner conscious.

The year is 2020 and most of the human population has been wiped out by these mysterious monsters that attack by sound. So, a family of four must live in complete silence to survive from day-to-day. And by toning down the dialog and amping up the natural sound, we get a razor-sharp thriller. Another aspect that A Quiet Place got right was its central focus on the individuals in the family. I can’t tell you the last time I cared this closely for the characters in a horror picture as I did for the family in this film. A Quiet Place provided fully developed characters that gave us reason to grow with them in the brisk 90-minute screen time. Actress Millicent Simmonds plays the eldest daughter in the family, who is deaf in the film and in real life. Krasinski stated that he sought for a deaf actress because, "... for many reasons, I didn't want a non-deaf actress pretending to be deaf. Most importantly though, because a deaf actress would help my knowledge and my understanding of the situations tenfold. I wanted someone who lives it and who could teach me about it on set."

​And Simmonds’ performance in the movie is powerful. She excels her persona from the first scene until the last. A Quiet Place artfully places your elements of fear and cinematically changes the game of what a horror picture should look and feel like. This is a smart film and breaks away from the normal clichés that have hinder past and current horror flicks. It’s 2018, and what I found so fascinating was Krasinski's ability to make a near silence movie and Millennials ate it up. This in part, is thanks to a really strong musical score, great sound design and a building tension that will send chills down your spine. A Quiet Place is mostly nonverbal, but it’s so well done. The bathtub scene with Mrs. Blunt was one of the most nerve-wrenching scenes I’ve witnessed in a horror flick. A Quiet Place came into theaters quietly, then pounced on its prey, leaving viewers everywhere shaken. 

A Quiet Place is rated PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned). For terror and some bloody images.