A Quiet Place

    Co-written and directed by John Krasinski, this horror film offers a new twist on your typical monster movie. Mr. Krasinski stars along with his wife Emily Blunt, as parents of three young kids trying to survive in a world inhabited by creatures that hunt by sound.

     The film drops the audience right into the story without much of an explanation as to the origin of the creatures. They are devoid of sight and smell and rely completely on sound to hunt. They are powerful and fast and seemingly have wiped out most life on the planet as we meet the Abbott family scavenging in an abandoned town, avoiding the creatures by making as little sound as they can. The family communicates by sign language, walks barefoot and tries to make some kind of life on an farm they have found in the countryside.

     Without sound, the audience must adapt to the rhythm of the film, which heightens the visual impact. Mr. Krasinski employs a terrific score and amplification to create tension from natural sound and movement. This makes for a very suspenseful film as the creatures find their way to the farm despite the best efforts of the Abbotts to keep silent.

     The cast is terrific with Ms. Blunt a stand out. Her expressive acting is riveting especially in the scene where she endures giving birth, trying to remain silent under horrendous conditions. Millicent Simmonds, a deaf actor, plays their daughter and she too, is terrific, especially in the last third of the film. Noah Jupe plays the older son, Marcus and Cade Woodward is the youngest son, Beau.

      The central theme is really about family and less about the monsters. The violence is kept to a bare minimum and so is any bloodshed.  Mr. Krasinski prefers the tactics of Alfred Hitchcock to create tension and suspense. Less is more in this instance. A nail in a floorboard becomes one of the scariest visuals in the film. I highly recommend seeing this in a theater with an audience rather than at home where I think it will lose some of it's impact. The scares are better when you can share them with others.