Review: A Quiet Place (2018)

Title: A Quiet Place (2018)

Genre: Horror

Director: John Krasinski

Stars: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, and Cade Woodward

Grade: C

In a Nutshell:

In a post-apocalyptic world, humans have gone nearly extinct after mobs of blind, thick-armored monsters invade the Earth. The creatures hunt with hypersensitive hearing, and can carry off prey in the blink of an eye. The few humans left alive are forced to live as quietly as possible- make even the slightest noise and you’re doomed.

You’d think surviving a bunch of flesh-eating aliens would be difficult enough, but the Abbott family have to cope with this and a more personal tragedy that happened mere months after the invasion. Lee (Krasinski) and Evelyn (Blunt) live with their young children Beau (Woodward), Marcus (Jupe), and Regan (Simmonds) far away from anyone else, hidden on a farm. The family occasionally ventures into an abandoned city for supplies, but they’re mostly self-sufficient.

Even though things look pretty bleak, the family carries on living. They do laundry, grow corn, and eat dinner together. Evelyn is pregnant, and expects her baby very soon. Lee wants to be sure his children are self-reliant, and takes Marcus out fishing one day. Of course, being a horror movie, disaster inevitably ensues, and the Abbotts need to defend themselves and their home from the hungry creatures outside.

The Critique:

True to its name, A Quiet Place barely has any spoken dialogue. It’s an intriguing premise, but I found myself gradually losing interest after the first act or so. Aside from the violent tragedy in the opening of the movie, these characters really aren’t that interesting. They’re dull, and even by horror standards, generally dumb. Why would anybody but Mormons, for example, have a baby in the middle of the apocalypse? Why would you let your young children walk behind you, while anthropophagic aliens prowl around in the woods?

As a horror fan, I can forgive dull characters if the movie nails down atmosphere. There are some great, claustrophobic scenes in A Quiet Place, along with a few unnecessary jump scares. The monsters themselves are neat, though the rules according to which they work are a bit hazy. Bafflingly, these creatures can hear a toy rocket from miles away, yet can’t hear the breathing and heartbeats of people right next to them? The ending is even more inane. I’m not going to spoil it, but the way to beat the monsters is right up with Signs with how obvious and stupid it is.

Honestly, A Quiet Place is more like an update of a gimmicky William Castle movie than a contender to recent genre innovators like Get Out and It Follows. It’s well-made and entertaining, but I really can’t take a movie like this seriously when two characters nearly drown in corn.

Choice Quote: “………………………….”- Everybody

To Go, to Rent, or to Netflix:

I would recommend Netflix over seeing this movie in the theater. The lack of dialogue ensures that you’ll hear the commentary of nearly everyone around you.