“Be quiet and don’t say a word,” warns the marketing of “A Quiet Place,” a dramatic horror movie that director and costar John Krasinski makes feel raw.
This film is about a family dealing with monsters that can hear every sound a person makes and hunts them down, but it’s also a drama that depicts a family dealing with loss and hope to get through tough times.
“A Quiet Place” has a fantastic cast with Emily Blunt, John Krasinski and two great child performances. The cast of “A Quiet Place” makes it feel like a real family trying to survive a horrible situation.Throughout the film, they primarily use sign language to communicate. Sign language made the conversations in the film different compared to most and can put some people off.
The sound is a very important character in “A Quiet Place.” Every sound is amplified to a larger degree. The sound builds tension throughout the film and does something that only a silent movie would do. For example, a toy rocket ship sets off the monster in the woods and the only sound you hear is the toy rocket ship. “A Quiet Place” is one of the few films that made my spine tingle with every sound a person made in the film.
“A Quiet Place” is a unique theater-going experience. I saw it in a small theater, which made it feel more intimate. Every sound in the theater amplified by the silence onscreen underscored how scary silence can be in movies. This is one of the few films to watch alone in the morning with a good sound system.
This film is a great example of taking a monster film and upping the stakes. I would compare this film to “10 Cloverfield Lane,” which also dealt with tension by having the action being suspense-driven.
Emily Blunt stars as the matriarch of the family in “A Quiet Place.”
Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures
The creatures in “A Quiet Place” look as if they came right out of H.P. Lovecraft and have a bipedal design to them. I feel that keeping the monster design secret did help out by making them terrifying.
My main problem with the film is the length which is one hour and 30 minutes. This and the plot hole of the waterfall are just small problems. “A Quiet Place” is a tension-filled silent horror movie and builds with every scene which is something uncommon in modern horror movies. It is usually only seen in older flicks, like “Psycho.”
This film is a great example of taking horror into a new direction. I feel this film does a lot of things that make it different from most horror movies, like letting the characters be the main part of the film. It puts more into building tension and suspense. Lastly, “A Quiet Place” does show, more than tell, what is going on in a scene.
I give “A Quiet Place” 9 out of 10. It is a horror film that has some bite, and I enjoy that.
