A Quiet Place is a 2018 American horror film directed by John Krasinski, and starring Emily Blunt. The film is produced by Michael Bay’s company, Platinum Dunes, which is also owned by Andrew Form and Bradley Fuller. The screenplay was written by Bryan Woods and Scott Beck, based on a story by Woods and Beck. The plot follows a family who must live life in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt exclusively by sound.
In the modern horror thriller A Quiet Place, a family of four must navigate their lives in silence after mysterious creatures that hunt by sound threaten their survival. If they hear you, they hunt you.
Movie review by Amaris J. Gagnon
A Quiet Place is a Breath of Fresh Air for Horror
Purchase your tickets for A Quiet Place this weekend because this film is worth the money. I don’t normally say that because most horror films over the past five years besides a few gems such as Insidious, The Babadook, and It Follows, have bombed. A Quiet Place is a loud signal for horror filmmakers to get their act together.
If the creaking of a floorboard could be a monster, then the concept in this film is just that. It is the familiar fear of any person hoping that their presence may go unheard in an uncomfortable situation. With a backdrop of rural New York, a family will work together to survive unknown creatures that hunt by sound. Surrounded by woods and only walking on sand, there is much to wonder what could be lingering in the cornfields and the trees.
This film will remind you of thriller It Comes at Night(2017), meets Sci-Fi thriller The Darkest Hour(2011). It opens slowly, which is appreciated to fully understand the gravity of what this family was fighting for but picks up in a fast pace that gets somewhat messy by the third act. I’m going to take off my critical glasses for a moment and say that director John Krasinski did a fine job keeping audiences at the edge of their toes with very familiar scares done in an unfamiliar way.
The statement that the children are our future holds false in this narrative. The kids were dumb and acted like they haven’t been surviving for their lives for over 400 days. Most of the movie was the children messing up and Krasinski running around trying to save everyone, but himself. The performances by Noah Jupe and Millicent Simmonds who played the kids of Lee (Krasinski) and Evelyn (Blunt) Abbott were solid given their age. It was comical, but I’m not going to throw it under the bus just yet. Here’s why.
I think what the film was getting at was the ideology that humans are flawed and will continue to be just that: Human. Children are flawed, ignorant, and don’t fully understand past themselves, and will continue to be just that: Children.
The monster by the way, was great. It reminded me of the creatures from Wes Craven’s They,with teeth and a head that was a mix of Alien and Stranger Thing’s Demogorgon. Creatures that hunt solely by sound and possibly smell is an interesting concept that asks the question “How long can you go without making a sound?”
I’m assuming that the weakness of these creatures is intensified frequency? Given the ending of strong female characters taking on these monsters, I’d say their greatest weakness were women.
If you you’re not impressed by the story, then at least be impressed by Krasinski. Given that this film is his second directed project other than his dramedy The Hollars (2016), he’s kept his slate versatile, proving that his voice and vision are something to look out for in the future. In a previous year filled with box office bombs, this should be a good start for Paramount Pictures in putting out better content.
At the end of the day with movie theater attendance at a nineteen year record low this indie feel film inspires and will make you believe in innovative storytelling once again.
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