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“If they hear you, they hunt you.”
“A Quiet Place” is the third and newest film from director John Krasinski. The film is a drama/thriller, starring Krasinski (who “The Office” fans will recognize as Jim Halpert) as the father character, alongside his real life wife Emily Blunt, who plays the mother, and the actors who play their two children, Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe.
The film follows the family on their quest to survive in a world plagued by unearthly sound hunting abominations; a world where if you want to survive, you have to do so in absolute silence.
The daughter character (Simmonds) suffers from a severe case of deafness and, due to the absence of sound throughout the movie, the idea of being deaf in this terrifying scenario is used to great effect. In order for the characters to communicate, not just with her but with the other characters, they have to resort to using ASL (American Sign Language) as their primary source of communication.
Although the thought of having to read subtitles in this day and age has the power to make any number of moviegoers nauseous, it is actually in benefit to the film. Even if the characters were simply whispering their way through the film it wouldn’t be nearly as impactful as their waving hands.
In the case of horror films, compelling scenarios and atmospheres are more often than not pursued over interesting storylines and characters, “A Quiet Place” is no exception to this. And with there being little dialogue, character development is made even harder. However, the film seems to be aware of its shortcomings with characters and drives the point home that “characters aren’t our strong suit” by not granting any of them names.
And because this is a horror movie with underdeveloped characters, the only real emotions that the actors have to portray accurately is fear and pain, which they do spectacularly.
Though not the most outstanding in the genre, “A Quiet Place” is a solid thriller flick, with great effects and mood setting guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.
“A Quiet Place” takes the horror genre and strips it down to the bare minimums. With only an hour and 30-minute runtime, it doesn’t overstay its welcome like so many other films of the same type. It knows you can only jump scare the audience so many times before the spook gets run into the ground. It gets in quick, whispers its sweet nothings into your ear, and then high tails it out.
The film is a refresh in the horror industry. It’s nothing new, and it’s nothing you wouldn’t expect from a horror film. But in a film industry full of demonic possessions, deranged doctors and mask-wearing psychopaths, it’s nice to have a good old-fashioned monster movie–a movie that doesn’t have to relay on a blood and gore to entice the audience–all it needs to do is break the silence to get you to bite your nails into oblivion.
“A Quiet Place” is a must see for any horror or film enthusiast, taking the genre back to where it all began. And in context of not just the film, but also its name–silence truly is golden.
