 Tagline: Rule #1: Don't make a sound. Rule #2: Never leave the path. Rule #3: Red means run. In the modern horror thriller A QUIET PLACE, a family of four must navigate their lives in silence after mysterious creatures that hunt by sound threaten their survival. If they hear you, they hunt you. Storyline: Two parents do what it takes to keep their children safe in a world full of creatures hunting every sound they can hear. Not a sound can be heard from the family hiding in silence, but all it takes is one noise and everything can go wrong. Written by JHatta Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman, June 30, 2018 Monsters and mayhem and bloodshed and brutality may a Horror movie make, but even the most grisly amongst them is nothing without a connection between the acts of violence on the screen, the victims suffering through them, and the audience watching from the safety of the theater or home. Director John Krasinski's A Quiet Place makes that connection in a film of survival and sacrifice in a world that has fallen into silence following an alien invasion, invaders whose sense of hearing is their only biological building block that's sharper than their teeth and claws. A grim but gloriously absorbing film in the tradition of M. Night Shyamalan with hints of The Road and 10 Cloverfield Lane, A Quiet Place is a masterful Horror experience that eschews significant violent visuals and traditional dialogue in favor of the terrors a family faces while on the verge of tearing apart with every misstep, each accidentally muttered syllable, any minor increase in volume that could take one, or all, of the frail and fragile survivors whose only strength is the bonds of blood shared amongst them. The world has fallen into ruin and it has fallen into silence. Alien invaders, highly sensitive to sound and willingly slaughtering anything -- living or otherwise -- that makes sound, have culled the human population. The film follows the Abbot family, on the move and fighting to survive: father Lee (John Krasinski), mother Evelyn (Emily Blunt), deaf daughter Reagan (Millicent Simmonds), and son Marcus (Noah Jupe). As the family copes with tragedy, exists in silence, and struggles to understand and survive the decaying world around it, every step becomes a potential siren, each syllable a possible death sentence, any action likely to call down a terrible fate. A Quiet Place is a film of family and a film of survival. The specifics of the world's state -- what the invaders want, how many have arrived, how few humans remain -- is insignificant to the story. This is a microcosm film in which the family unit is all that matters. It's not how they have adapted, not how they have survived, not where they are, not what they have, not of which they dream that matters: it's only that they're together, that they're all-in to come through, or at least survive as long as they can. The film deliberately leaves the backstory vague and the family's future prospects hazy. It's concerned with their immediate survival. There's no starting point and there's no end in sight. It's about the everyday in a new world, and it doesn't matter how or why it has come to be as it is. The audience will quickly attach to the family with an emotional current that's born of tragedy and developed with time and of watching as the only thing that has not deteriorated is the love they share for one another, perhaps best exemplified in a scene in which Lee and Evelyn share a slow dance with shared earbuds their only source for music. The film's action scenes are tense and tight, personal and intimate. The juxtaposition of deadly creatures and frightened, silent individuals where the only defense is sometimes stillness and silent prayer makes for terrifying imagery. But this isn't just a Tremors clone. Noise can be used as a distracting weapon, but it is often something to be muffled, to be quickly removed from the equation, and only deliberately utilized as a last resort. One of the most haunting, almost dire, plot points throughout the movie is Evelyn's pregnancy. How will the family deal with the baby's arrival and the birthing pains that will surely come…and the months of uncontrollable screaming that are sure to follow? In the world depicted in A Quiet Place, life's greatest blessing may be its greatest curse. It's a simple thought but a major complication that adds a remarkable intensity to the movie when it's top of mind and foreboding even when it's not. The film generates fear from a number of other sources. It's not afraid of danger, it's not afraid of loss, it's not afraid to portray its world as a dark place where silence is the only hope for survival, even when silence is not an option. The cast is terrific. John Krasinski, who both directs and plays one of the film's lead characters, excels as the family's figurehead, a man who has not come to fully understand the new world but who certainly has a firm grasp of its new dynamics and what it takes, and what it means, to defend his family. But even as the rock, it's the unpredictabilities -- and even the predictable moments, sometimes -- that place all he holds dear in great danger. Emily Blunt is terrific as his pregnant wife. She wears loss, pain, and doubt on her face, but an inner strength manifests throughout the film that carries the character forward following several major plot turns. Millicent Simmonds, an actress deaf in real life, and Noah Jupe carry the film as the children who are forced to grow up quickly but who still hold the past pains close to their hearts and struggle with the fear of the unknown. Creature effects are a strength. They're unique and frightening in build, clearly alien, and very deadly. The film takes its time in fully revealing them. A Quiet Place is a gripping, intense film. Its focus is on its characters and their struggles. It's not about the past (beyond anything depicted in the film) and it's not about the future. It's not about hows or whys. It's a snapshot of terror in a devastated world where sound calls down almost certain death. Don't be fooled by the PG-13 rating. This is a superior Horror film that allows emotions, not bloodshed, and characters, not gore, to shape the tale. It's a wonderful film and one of the genre's best in recent years. Paramount's Blu-ray is exceptional. Video and audio are essentially without flaw. Supplements are few in number but decently informative. Very highly recommended. [CSW] -4.4- John Krasinski directed and stars as the father (Lee Abbott) with his real life wife Emily Blunt as his wife (Evelyn Abbott) in a family with an actually deaf older daughter Millicent Simmonds (Regan Abbott) and two younger sons Noah Jupe (Marcus Abbott) and Cade Woodward (Beau Abbott). The family is hunted by creatures that hunt by sound. Oh, and the wife is expecting. It is heart wrenching and warm at the same time. All of the acting was excellent and having a young deaf actress was truly exceptional. Try to read as many of the news articles on the workbench for the back story on the creatures. This is one of the movies that not knowing too much going in is a definite plus. The film was way better than average just because of the fact that they used the lack of sound as both a protagonist AND an antagonist! This film has the possibility of becoming a cult classic. [V5.0-A5.0] MPEG-4 AVC - D-Box enhanced this movie (a couple of the bump-scars were overdone). IMDb Rating (10/14/18): 7.7/10 from 217,838 users
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