By Kyle Laugh
Directed by John Krasinski who also co-write the film alongside Brian Woods and Scott Beck.
Starring John Krasinski (The Office, 13 Hours, Jack Ryan), Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada, The Girl On The Train, The Wolfman), Millicent Simmonds (Wonderstruck) and Noah Jupe (Penny Dreadful, Suburbicon, Wonder).
In a post-apocalyptic world, a family is forced to live in silence while hiding from monsters with ultra-sensitive hearing.
As a quick foreword prior to the review, I would like to state that I kept most things out in order not to ruin the film for you if you’ve have yet to see it for yourselves. There are a few areas I do touch on but they are incredibly vague and could likely be confusing to those of you who are still waiting to check it out. Once you do however, these oddities will make sense to you!
This film is a fantastic example of how far horror has come in the pop culture spectrum this day and age. We have an actor who is primarily known for his comedic stylings, seeing the sudden reappearance of regular mainstream horror films and although, not a fan of the genre himself, he did his research, watched the films he needed to see which would relate to his idea and created something fantastic and original with it.
The opener displays something gripping and quickly effective which not only sets the tone of the film immediately but also aids in explaining the way the films antagonists do their bidding.
In a weird way, the film was presented to us almost like a moving story book. We were forced to read subtitles as all the characters were required to keep quiet throughout most of its presentation. This aided in keeping the audience's attention on the film at all times in order to keep track of what is happening which in turn, kept us aware of the full story as it progressed. If you got to the point of not paying attention at any area in time, there is a good chance you may have missed something that was potentially important to the plot.
Not to tell you what to do but staying off your phone may be a good idea here!
The story is a bit of a slow burn with a couple of action oriented parts scattered throughout for entertainment purposes. This allows us as viewers to piece together things together here and there and gives us the opportunity to figure out how the protagonists can finally get the edge on their opponent.
The acting is also something to behold as everyone involved does a phenomenal job while portraying their characters. There was not a single time or scene that I could point at and state that the actors did something off putting or ridiculous. Of course the use of CG wasn’t a preference of mine but I’ll still take it considering all the good the remainder of the film was able to provide to me.
Given the mixed responses coming from the horror community, I was highly unaware what to expect once beginning the film. Although the majority states enjoying the film, there was a smaller grouping of people who kept reiterating that the ending was ridiculous or stupid while some stated that a sequel to the film doesn’t make a lick of sense.
I personally feel that those claiming the latter two parts are incorrect in stating this. The final scenes were very well done, gave us closure and opened up the opportunity for a warranted sequel to be made. I say this regarding another film because I feel that there is a lot more that we can discover regarding the antagonists, why they’re attacking people, where they came from and the simple fact that the knowledge of how people can properly defend themselves needs to be spread in order to help as many people possible.
Considering Krasinski wasn’t a fan of the genre to begin with, he did his research incredibly well and served us an amazing film. Although it has its flaws, this will be one to go down in the history books and may point towards the future success of the genre coming from new sources and creatives outside of it.
People may be hateful towards me about it but I have to give “A Quiet Place” an 8 out of 10.
TRAILER
This week on Beyond The Void Horror Podcast we are clinging to summer like a kid to a raft in piranha infested waters. Nicholas Ehst joins to talk about two movies that gave Joe Dante & James Cameron their start. Piranha (1978) & Piranha 2 The Spawning (1982). Check it out! You can listen here or you can Listen/Subscribe on iTunes here!