‘A QUIET PLACE’ Review

John Krasinski proves himself to be more than capable of bringing the scares in his first foray into horror in a film that challenges its viewers to not make a sound.

A Quiet Place is uniquely crafted in its silence and effective jump scares, like playing hide and go seek and holding your breath and trying not to make a sound while your opponent gets ever closer to you.

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Although we’ve seen great “quiet” horror films in recent years – Fede Alvarez’s Don’t Breathe and Mike Flanagan’s Hush come to mind – we haven’t seen it played out in this kind of participatory way or even on quite this kind of scale before, although it is still kind of an intimate setting at the same time. It’s small in that it centers on the Abbot family in their home and on their farm (and occasion ventures out for food and supplies) but it’s big in that they are survivors of this global alien attack (at least we assume its alien anyway – it’s never quite implied where these creatures come from). In the near future, the world is overrun by these strange, blind creatures who hunt their human prey by use of sound alone. The Abbott family – Lee (Krasinski), his pregnant wife Evelyn (Emily Blunt), daughter Regan (Millicent Simmons) and son Marcus (Noah Jupe) do all they can to survive, even after they experience their own terrible tragedy. Millicent Simmonds stars as the Abbott’s deaf daughter Regan and much of the film’s dialogue is spoken through American Sign Language. Simmonds is absolutely charming in the role and she is the heart of the film. It’s also a welcome change to see a deaf character played by a deaf actress rather than a non-deaf actress playing her and that in itself is a great sign of change and could signal more roles for disabled people in the future.

The climax is kind of like a more sophisticated Signs meets Mars Attacks! scenario but the buildup to that reveal is satisfactory. I also have to give credit to the creature design, a terrifying insectoid like being, like something that wouldn’t feel out of place in the Cloverfield universe. Aside from appearance they perhaps have more in common with the Velociraptors from Jurassic Park with their feral viciousness and hunting abilities – imagine the terrifying raptors in the kitchen scene from the first Jurassic Park but dialed to 11 – that’s the kind of fun, hold your breath fear this movie brings to the table.

The scares are plenty. The jumpscares, in particular, are used quite effectively – rather than the overuse we’ve become accustomed to in the run of the mill horror weekender, Krasinski knows how to place the jumpscares to the point where it’s not tedious and becomes fun again. Although the overall effect of this movie might have worked for me a little more if I hadn’t seen Don’t Breathe and Hush prior to this – Krasinski still shows us how jumpscares, when used sparingly and keeping us at the edge of our seat, can startle is and make us break our own silence. And that is where A Quiet Place ultimately succeeds. It’s almost an interactive experience – it challenges its viewers to keep quiet when the characters are quiet and squirm helplessly as someone makes a sound and they anxiously await their fate. Its use of sound is just as effective as its use of silence. Krasinski is one of the most unlikely of horror directors – and I eagerly await his next venture in genre filmmaking.