Getting loud for ‘A Quiet Place’
Film is satisfyingly terrifying. ★★★☆ review,
Forget “Get out!” and “Don’t go in there!” Creepy new fright fest A Quiet Place amps its fear with a simple “Shhh.”
But good luck managing any sound during the stomach-churning freakout director and star John Krasinski ratchets up in his taut thriller. A Quiet Place ( ★★★☆; rated PG-13; in theaters nationwide Friday) is essentially Alien on a farm: Even though there are cornfields and land for days, there’s a constant state of panic and claustrophobia for a family stalked by monsters who attack anything that makes noise.
Are they intergalactic invaders? Creatures from another dimension? Bryan Woods and Scott Beck’s story shrewdly leans less into reveals about the mysterious armored, blind beasts with super-hearing and a frightening maw and more into the post-apocalyptic situation in which the Abbott family finds itself, mostly cut off from what’s left of humanity.
More than a year into their terrifying ordeal, survivalist dad Lee (Krasinski) and pregnant mom Evelyn (Emily Blunt) carefully live the quiet life with daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds), who is deaf, and younger son Marcus (Noah Jupe).
Knowing sign language has helped keep them alive longer than most, though everyone has been tense since tragedy struck a few months into their scary new normal. With mere weeks before Evelyn’s due, the family is prepared as well as possible, but it’s awfully hard to not bump into or knock over things. (Not to mention the potential doom that a wailing newborn could bring.) As one can imagine, the monsters show up at the most inopportune time to wreak havoc on their lives and separate them from each other.
In his third — and by far best — directorial effort, Krasinski switches up a fundamental horror trope and adds layers of gut-punching stakes. The amazing sound design does a lot of the work for him: The way the Abbotts sign to one another (translated through subtitles), which helps in not getting mauled, adds to the film’s overall disquiet nature. And when music is used, it’s composed mostly of dissonant piano melodies and haunting power chords. (The only downside of lacking this much dialogue: Fidgety fellow theatergoers and people diving into their popcorn are way more distracting.)
The central creatures, which are posi- tively freaky, also audibly add to the mood — the sounds they emit while hunting are a combination of a Predator and a mini-Godzilla. It’s best, however, to not think too hard about the rules of their behavior. They’re super-sensitive to the smallest bang in the Abbotts’ basement, which the beasties can hear from seemingly miles away, but aren’t ticked off by the very loud nearby waterfall.
Krasinski and Blunt are married in real life, so their chemistry amid absolute terror feels natural, and both also spark well off Simmonds. She was the highlight of Wonderstruck, and her expressive face and impressive acting chops make her integral to this movie’s core conflict: keeping their family together and preparing for a future when gory death is constantly one sound away.
“Who are we if we can’t protect them?” Evelyn says to her husband during an especially emotional stretch. At first, one might wonder how they could ever bring a child into such an uncertain world, but their plight later becomes symbolic for any mom or dad desperately navigating obstacles — whether sinister monstrosities or something else — to create a safe haven for their offspring.
While the silence in A Quiet Place can be deafening, the parental themes and refreshing horror conceit speak volumes.