“A Quiet Place” is the type of movie that draws you in from the start and never ceases to keep you on the edge of your seat. Directed by former “The Office” star, John Krasinski, “A Quiet Place” is unlike any thriller before it. The film is set in a post-apocalyptic world where a supernatural creature species has taken over. The movie opens with a family quietly roaming through a convenience store, using sign language to communicate, and not making a sound. It then becomes clear that the creatures are attracted to sound.
As the family roams through the store, it appears the eldest child is very ill. While the family looks for medicine for the older son, Marcus Abbott, played by Noah Jupe, the older two children talk in sign language. The younger son Beau, played by Cade Woodward, draws a rocket ship on the floor of the store and tells his sister in sign language that the rocket ship will help them “get away.” This was an early sign in the film that the family was in trouble, and that there were not many options for survival.
As the family prepares to leave the store, Beau grabs a toy rocket ship to take with him. His father, however, notices and takes the toy from him, signaling to him that it will be too loud. Beau is clearly upset and does not fully understand the severity of the situation as he is very young. When the family leaves the store, his sister Regan, played by Millicent Simmonds, hands Beau the toy rocket ship, and signals to him in sign language that she trusts him with it. You get a first look at what the world has come to once the family leaves the store. The town is ravaged. There is no sign of human life aside from their small group.
Director John Krasinski makes it known from this opening scene that these supernatural creatures have extremely heightened hearing. The family leaves the town and you can see they have created a path of sand to walk over the entire way back to their farm. As the family walks the path, they approach a wooden bridge in the middle of the woods. The older son, as mentioned earlier, appears to be ill and is on the shoulders of his father, looking back towards his siblings. His younger brother Beau takes the toy rocket ship out of his backpack and presses a button on it, creating a loud, high pitched sound. The look on the father’s face as he slowly turns to look at his son, holding the rocket ship, is one of intense horror. Krasinksi’s character begins sprinting towards his youngest son, looking to his right and immediately noticing one of the creatures sprinting the same way as well. It’s a race to his son. The creature appears to be larger than life, moving with extreme speed and power closing in on Beau. Who will get there first? What do these creatures look like? Why are they attracted to sound? All of these questions are answered in the phenomenal film, “A Quiet Place.”
The family in this film consists of father Lee Abbott, played by Krasinski, his wife Evelyn who is played by John Krasinski’s wife Emily Blunt, and their three children; Regan, Marcus and Beau. An early twist is that their daughter Regan, is actually deaf. This causes some interesting moments throughout the film as she can not hear any sounds around her, therefore not knowing if she has messed up and made any loud noises.
From the start, “A Quiet Place” makes you feel uneasy. It’s the silence of the movie that makes every little sound that much more terrifying. The movie is unlike most horror films in that it relies on the silence to frighten the viewer. There were twists, jump scares, and everything a movie fanatic looks for in a good horror film. “A Quiet Place” sticks with you. It was raw, original, and terrifying. Krasinksi shined in his directing debut with “A Quiet Place,” a movie that is sure to terrorize viewers for a long time. The combination of the deafening silence, horrific creatures, and unique plot delivers a fantastic film.
