If you didn’t think John Krasinski could do a horror movie, you would be wrong. Krasinski co-wrote, starred in, and directed A Quiet Place, and he pretty much nailed it.
Set some time in the very near future, a family must live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound.
A Quiet Place is indeed unique that it has very little dialogue. There are challenges in that regarding keeping your audience’s attention from meandering. Luckily Krasinski keeps the film at a lean 90 minutes as well as keeping us on the edge of our seat for most of that time.
The opening sequence sets the tone immediately as well as giving a good introduction to this family – and the drama of their relationships. John Krasinski really sets up the film here beautifully.
This family lives on a farm in the country. We see how they live much of the time in the basement and under the floor of their barn to keep the noise to a minimum. They put sand on the ground in paths from place to place to muffle their foot steps as they walk in their bare feet.
A Quiet Place is about parents doing whatever it takes to protect their children. Krasinski (and co-writers Bryan Woods and Scott Beck) have a great screenplay here that tells a really solid story of this particular family while also informing us that this situation is most certainly not isolated.
Everybody is great here – an excellent cast. Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds and and Noah Jupe are tops as the family living in fear. And they are pretty much the only cast so they’re carrying the film.
Once the tension really kicks in, it doesn’t let go – even when you think it does. But A Quiet Place isn’t strictly a horror film. It’s more appropriate to call it a thriller, as there isn’t really much blood or gore to be found. This is more of an edge-of-your-seat nail-biter. It’s an intense ride.
I will say that there are one or two places where I might have felt either a lack of suspension of disbelief, or maybe I should say that there were one or two places where I thought the characters decisions were completely impractical or illogical. BUT, that has a lot to do with personal interpretation, so not everyone is going to see it that way.
It’s a pretty small thing, so I would still definitely recommend A Quiet Place. This is a strong film and is easily worth four kittenhands. It’s nice to see a good scary, thriller as opposed to the empty, soulless torture porn born from films like Saw.
~ Neil T Weakley, your average movie-goer, now looking forward to Rampage! I know, but it’s got giant monsters.