A Quiet Place Review – Perfectly Directed, Superbly Acted, A Four Star Horror Flick

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Category: Film

Published on Friday, 06 April 2018 09:44

Written by Janet Walker

A Quiet Place, from Paramount Pictures, presents a contemporary horror film filled with heightened suspense, haunted house pop-ups, stunning performances as a family attempts to adjust as an unknown "thing" mercilessly kills anyone who makes a sound.

Directed by John Krasinski, A Quiet Place stars Emily Blunt, Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Cade Woodward and Leon Russom. Krasinski also co-writes the screenplay along with Bryan Woods and Scoot Beck.

A Quiet Place begins on Day 89, of the occupation. An unknown, violent, and quick alien has been unleashed. Headlines from the New York Post show various efforts the subdue the monsters are futile, provides the best possible chance for survival and a continued investigation shows sound is the bait that attracts them.

On this day in September 2020, the Abbott Family, Evelyn, played by Emily Blunt, Lee, played by John Krasinski, Regan, played by Millicent Simmonds, Marcus, played by Noah Jupe, and Beau, played by Cade Woodward have walked into Little Falls, New York.

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The town is ravaged. Remnants of unknown battles with "vicious things" that strike nearly instantaneously, and move unnaturally fast across the earth. The camera pans a wall of photos of the missing in desperate attempts to locate loved ones. The Abbotts came to town to gather medicine for Marcus, 8, from unfilled prescription, and medicines readily available.

They remain quiet, no loud talking, barely a whisper as they communicate in sign language and simple gestures. Any toys that create too much sound are forbidden today, in the abandoned drug store Beau, 4, finds a space shuttle replica, with glowing lights and one presumes sound. Lee, explains, it is too lound and removes the batteries and puts the toy back.

Regan, 12, is deaf and she loves her little brother and picks up the rocket, as they leave the drug store for the walk home, Beau picks up the batteries. Walking along a marked path, suddenly a sound breaks through the silence, Beau has inserted the batteries and for a moment, life, normalcy, a child's imagination, who has determined the rocket ship will be their escape, takes over and flashing blue lights and emergency sounds stop the entire family.

Lee running toward Beau he attempts to protect his child who inadvertently marked himself, Evelynn put her hand across her mount the stifle the screams of impeding horror, the fast moving "thing" is whipping through the woods, Lee is running, silently, unable to scream directions to his child to stop the horror that is set to befall him. With each running at break neck speed the "thing" is too fast and before their eyes Beau, their baby, is killed.

The story picks up at Day 487, more than a year has gone by since the day on the bridge. Evelynn is expecting, the children are more cautious, Regan, is dealing with a barrage of emotions, she blames herself for Beau's death, Marcus suffers from fear of leaving the home perimeter.

With the baby due, life continues, daily needs, food, laundry, homeschooling, and even family game night are done in silence.

Lee and Evelynn are trying to make a loving, nurturing life with no external sound. Living on a farm they string up lights, white indicates all is normal, red equals emergency. Having a farm with silo's they burn a fire and the horizon is dotted with signal fires from pockets of survivors.

Even with due dates as they are, babies have a way of determining their own time which leads to the cataclysmic conclusion.

A Quiet Place is a triumph! A shocking revival of the silent film genre with each moment, each step building suspense. John Krasinski has proven himself a an master of the horror film.

The four actors who create this masterpiece bring raw emotion to the screen with dialogue, poignant, sharp, piercing or intense. Limited to emotion which the camera captures and action the scenes continue to unfold with precision and authenticity.

Granted the story doesn't bring into play, the who, what, when, where and why or how the alien's ended up on earth or in the New York region, where the premise of the film is based.

A four hander, the two children, Millicent Simmonds, who is in real life is hearing impaired, is making her second major motion picture debut and as in the first, Wonderstruck, she delivers a solid, believable performance. Her on-screen brother Noah Jupe, also handles his silent film duties with unexpected depth and skill.

John Krasinski, who handles multiple duties as writer, director, co-star and producer and is the husband of co-star Emily Blunt, shows his skills outside of the comedy genre. He leads the family and brings a solid, noteworthy performance.

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Emily Blunt is a remarkable actress. Beyond just really good, she is shockingly extraordinary. Her performance in two pivotal emotional upheavals, the murder of her son and the birth of her baby showcase her abilities. There isn't a nuance that she doesn't capture. She is impressive.

A Quiet Place has it all from haunted house style pop-ups; incrementally increasing heightened suspense, and heart stopping affinities all translate to big noise at the box office.

Perfectly directed; Superbly acted; A Quiet Place is a four star horror flick.

See it.