A Quiet Place: Silent Screams

By now, you probably don't need me to tell you that A Quite Place is a fantastic movie. However, as someone who generally doesn't watch a lot of horror, let me use this review to tell any fellow horror-avoiders why this movie might be right for them.

First off, this movie is written and directed by John Krasinski, of The Office fame. The man was renowned for comedy, and was not a horror fan before he got this script. Therefore, he's coming from the same place as you - he's not a big horror guy, but boy, oh boy, did he dig this story. And what a story it is. For two hours, you will watch a family living in near-perfect silence. Why are they doing that? Because aliens have invaded the planet and they attack any living thing that makes a sound. Which is quite a reason.

The entire film is a wondrous exploration of the powers of production design. This family has come up with incredibly innovative ways to minimize the amount of noise they make in their home or in their environment. Whether it's the little roadways of sand they walk on (on tiptoe in bare feet, natch) or the fact that all of their Monopoly tokens are made of soft material so you can't hear anything as they move around around the board, there are little gems of ingenuity hidden throughout the film. It makes you appreciate how creative and resourceful this family has been and understand how they've managed to stay alive for as long as they have.

The cast is also nothing to sneeze at. Playing the husband and wife, real-life couple John Krasinski and Emily Blunt are pitch perfect as the protective parents who will stop at nothing to save their children. Blunt, in particular, is a wonder to watch as she manages to convey love, warmth, terror, and sorrow effortlessly without a single word of dialogue. And the children (Noah Jupe and Millicent Simmonds) are astonishing actors, particularly Simmonds who is actually deaf and clearly had a phenomenal influence on making this movie feel real and true.

The amount of silence in A Quite Place is profound, and it is a very eerie feeling in a theater when you can literally hear your heart thumping because there is nothing to hear on screen. There were moments when an audience member would cough or a phone would beep and I would jump because I thought it has happened in the movie and the aliens were about to come bursting in. This movie firmly instills a sense of terror in you, and I don't think anyone ever screamed when something shocking happened on screen because we were terrified of making any noise. It is an atmospheric and creative horror masterpiece, and while you might be a little twitchy during and after, you'll also be flooded with a sense of amazement about what a truly unique experience you had at the movies.