A Quiet Place

Just when most of the horror genre sticks to bland formulaic trends throughout the 2010s, there always seems to be a select few from each year that makes some kind of fresh unique take. They are the risk takers no one would have expected and can provide an experience that's either entertaining or frightening. Not only will these tend to have solid critical praise and box office numbers, but the cultural impact can be more impressive depending on how the public interprets it. This brings us to A Quiet Place, a recently released entry for the aforementioned area that brought an interesting premise but didn't mention much during it's marketing campaign. It should also be noted that lead actor John Krasinski also happens to be the co-writer and director (pulling a Jordan Peele Get Out maneuver plus acting in it). The marketing was very effective in showing some key moments but not revealing too much and gained positive critical reception following its premiere in SXSW. I entered the theater ready to see what kind of entertaining thrills John Krasinski was capable of bringing and left it very satisfied by the experience.

Plot: The story takes place in the near future where the human population is dwindled due blind but dangerous creatures that hunt by sound and follows a family trying to survive while being silent. The visual storytelling is a good change of pace for a horror thriller of this kind. The best way to describe this would be combining the silence of Don't Breathe with the threatening dangers of The Descent. It shows what precautions the family is taking to survive while having articles of old newspapers and written boards in one area to notify the audience the necessary background information. There might be a few cheap scares and some obvious cliches involved, but the effort placed in the script and direction earns more than enough of it to let a few inconsistencies slide. The fact that the wife is expecting another child and is nearing that birth date adds even more tension in how prepared they are when she eventually goes into labor.

Anything that can go wrong will do so most of the time but it has a limit in that due to the runtime and it's PG-13 rating, which is exactly needed to let the intense nature feel more real. The details in their environment can entice some lighter moments of warmth and emotional bonds between the patriarch and the members of his family (both verbal and sign language). The creatures are shown throughout the film whether through quick glances of fast movement, glimpses of their feet, or the whole thing in the final third. Looking at the design felt similar to the demogorgan from Stranger Things except with a higher budget and is actually threatening (combined with the limitations of those from The Descent). They work well to the benefit of the plot's stakes, have some nice details in their featured deigns, and shouldn't be underestimated in bringing some scares. Overall the engaging material in the story is simple and easy to follow with solid visual storytelling that provides great entertainment.

Characters: During my viewing, I don't recall if the names are ever mentioned either during sign language or verbal conversations and found it kind of funny when they revealed them during the end credits scroll instead of just "the husband", "the wife", etc (so keep an eye out for that just in case if it is ever shown at all). The people to focus on are Lee (John Krasinski), Evelyn (Emily Blunt), and Regan (Millicent Simmonds). Lee is a struggling patriarch doing to his best to plan for the scenarios he can control for his wife's upcoming delivery date while being the best father he can to his surviving children. John gives a great performance in conveying the struggles as the head of his family whose awareness of the dire circumstances leads him to teach his son more responsibilities in case the worse happens to him and become a more caring man for his wife and daughter. Evelyn is a stern but caring matriarch whose pregnancy puts some pressure on the group when her due date is coming close. Emily is excellent in this role from sharing sweet moments with her husband, encouraging her children, or being terrified for her life (yes, being married to the director of the film doesn't mean the writing nor the danger will go easy on her: you will fear for her life! Plus you never want to be pregnant in a horror thriller!).

Regan is a deaf but capable teenager with some tension between her and Lee due to an incident within the first 10 minutes of the movie. Millicent is very good in this role as she shares some great scenes with John, Emily, and Noah Jupe in situations you would expect from a frustrated teen (it should also be noted that this actress is actually deaf in real life and the director wanted her to help his knowledge and understandings about the circumstances). An honorable mention goes to Marcus (Noah Jupe) for fulfilling his archetype in learning new responsibilities from Lee and sharing some good scenes with John while emoting the amount of fear you would expect from children in horror thrillers.

Overall Consensus: A Quiet Place takes advantage of its fascinating premise by riding on the strengths of its actors, harsh environment, exhausting thrills, and solid visual storytelling. ⭑⭑⭑⭑1/2🍿🎟 Runtime: 1 hour 35 minutes PG-13

Reasons to watch it: You like any of the aforementioned actors. You like horror thrillers that rely on silence and earn its scares. You enjoy watching a family unit trying to survive against violent creatures out on the hunt. You love seeing sign language used for most of the conversations. You don't mind some dumb decisions made in order to have a scary movie.

Reasons to avoid it: You dislike any of the aforementioned actors. You dislike horror thrillers that tend to use cheap scares sometimes and use some predictable cliches. You dislike dumb decisions in survival films.

Coming up next: April Anticipation is off to a strong start with the nightmares John Krasinski shared with audiences in A Quiet Place! Next up will be a political satire that's been out in theaters for more than a month that I don't see much talk about and decided to watch to cheer myself up after some thrilling silent scares. Tune in next time as Screening Spectacles will be posting up the review of The Death of Stalin very soon this week!!