Review: A Quiet Place

"A Quite Place" is a terrifyingly tense and powerfully acted thrill ride that somehow manages to both shock and move audiences with its fresh take on monster movies.

Nowadays it seems like Hollywood is really running short on exciting new ideas. In the past few years there have been way too many remakes, reboots, sequels, prequels, spin-offs and even rebootquels. Thankfully every now and then something like "A Quite Place" comes along to restore our faith in original movies.

Written and Directed by John Krasinski, "A Quite Place" stars Krasinski, and his real-life wife Emily Blunt, as a man and wife trying to protect their family in a post-apocalyptic world that has been overrun by deadly creatures with super sensitive hearing. The only way to stay safe is to be as quiet as possible as the smallest sound could attract the terrifying monsters.

I can't praise Krasinski enough not only for his excellent directing but also his fantastic writing. I can't think of the last time a solid "creature feature" came out that was not only genuinely scary, but also boasted a surprising amount of heart. He sure has come a long way from playing Jim from "The Office." From the stage-setting opening scene, to the shocking final act, this movie kept me on the edge of my seat. Not once did things slow down or get boring. However, at the same time it didn't get too exhausting. I should warn you though that once this movie gets going it DOES. NOT. STOP. Even when you think things couldn't get any more tense or frightening, you find yourself dead wrong.

On that note, I do need to stop and praise the marketing team behind this film. This movie is very very frightening and what's amazing is that practically none of the movie was spoiled in the trailers. The marketing team seemed to rely on the unique premise alone to draw audiences in and it worked. The theater I was in was definitely packed. Another point to note is the genius decision to not reveal what the creatures actually look like in any of the promotional material. It was another great tactic to get people to come to the movie. I won't spoil anything but I will tell you that they are definitely scary. Kudos to the monster makers.

What makes this movie so scary is the fact that it preys on a fear that everyone can relate to. If you're trying to hide from something, the smallest sound can give you away. 2016's home invasion thriller "Don't Breathe" also played on that fear, but "A Quite Place" takes it to a whole different level. The movie hammers in the importance of being quiet so much that the entire theater I was in was almost 100% silent for the duration of the film. Heck, I even stopped eating my candy out of the subconscious fear that the sound could put our heroes up on the screen in danger. There's definitely some great scares to be enjoyed here. It helps that it doesn't matter if it's day or night, night or dark, it's sound that is killer. And like I said above, just when you think things couldn't get worse, they do. And then they do again.

Of course what really brings this movie together is the spectacular performances given by the cast. There's not a whole lot of dialogue throughout the film. Being that any sound could mean certain death, the characters communicate largely through sign language. Even music is used sparingly. Due to that fact, a lot of the story's emotions must be conveyed through facial expressions alone and still be believable. The cast knocked it out of the park. Even when words weren't being said out loud the actors still managed to convey their fear, love, frustration, etc., through action and expression alone. The powerful performances helped to draw me in so I genuinely cared what was going on. Every time they got scared, I got scared because I really didn't want this lovely family to die horribly at the hands of hellish creatures. While the child actors were phenomenal, I really have to give it to Krasinski and Blunt. I bought every minute this real-life couple put up on screen. I already thought they were great actors but this movie solidified that fact for me.

Now as scary as this movie is, it's also surprisingly moving. That's really due to the incredible (almost entirely silent) performances given by Krasinski and Blunt. They truly bring the story of a family battling impossible and terrifying odds to life. I love when real-life couples act in a movie together. You can tell the feelings they are expressing are rooted in reality. I also love the fact that they chose to do a horror-thriller together instead of a romantic comedy or something lame like that. If this is Krasinski at his best both acting and writing/directing, I can't wait to see what else he comes up with.

The silent nature of the film, combined with Krasinski's beautiful directing and the spectacular sound editing, give the film a somewhat artsy quality too. The subdued use of music and dialogue leaves room for more ambient sounds: birds, water, wind, creaky stairs, trees, etc. It's a pretty cool effect that's as refreshing as it is scary as you never know what noise could be too loud and bring on the monsters. I really don't have anything bad to say about this movie and apparently neither does anybody else judging from the 97% rating currently on Rotten Tomatoes. Although you may find your body a little stiff when it's all over from doing your damnedest not to move lest you make too much noise. Definitely go see it in theaters for the full effect.

FINAL THOUGHTS: "A Quiet Place" offers a refreshingly original, superbly acted and genuinely frightening monster movie that audiences are going to eat up as that try their hardest along with the characters not to scream as they watch this expertly written story unfold.

OVERALL GRADE: A

#aquiteplace #creaturefeature #johnkrasinski #emilyblunt #noahjupe #millicentsimmonds #monstermovie