“A Quiet Place” Movie Review
The highly anticipated new movie, “A Quiet Place,” released on April 6, marking not only the studio directorial debut for the distinguished John Krasinski, but the debut for a new method in the art of horror movie making. Set in the dystopian future, the film centers around a small family struggling to survive by altering their lives to live in complete silence as they are terrorized by creatures from another world, who primarily hunt by sound as they are rendered blind. The film stylistically combines suspense and thrill without exaggerating unnecessary situations and relying on cheap jump-scares and loud sounds.
“A Quiet Place,” while innovative and original in terms of its concept and use of silence, has a rather plain and simple story line. The idea of a family being hunted by creatures in a post-apocalyptic world has been the premise of multiple television shows and films, but the film sets itself apart from The Walking Dead, “Cloverfield” and “The Mist” by taking such a plain and simple concept such as the act of silence and turning it into a matter of life and death by personifying it into certain places, things, people and situations. Krasinski’s technique of filmmaking, while balancing silence and tension, goes beyond the point of skilled. He knows what the audience is expecting, building up their anxiety with the presence of the creatures, the absence of sound and the introduction of new situations, but leads them on by not giving in to predictability and the dependence of cliche stereotypes that seem to be present in almost every horror film made past the year 2012.
The film, however, has its flaws, suffering from some screenplay issues. In certain situations, the state of the characters can seem to be all too unrealistic and distracts the audience from the film itself. While this is Krasinski’s debut and errors are to be expected, certain scenes and the conditions that the characters get themselves into went beyond the point of movie realism and just became unnecessary and implausible. With the decision to add a score to a near silent movie, the film also doesn’t quite proceed with confidence in it’s basic precept and it sometimes feels the film is covering up its own silence with too much soundtrack. Reminding the audience that they’re watching a movie goes against the primary reason they’ve come to the theater: to escape. Krasinski’s idea to add a soundtrack removes the discomfort that the film is naturally creating and reminds the audience it is just a movie.
Krasinski beautifully crafted a fresh, new art of horror movie making. He wanted to create a film in our modern era of sound editing masterpieces displayed in every Marvel movie that drew away from the necessity of hearing things and draw audiences to the uncomfortable necessity of seeing. He went beyond accomplishing his goal, as "A Quiet Place" will undoubdtedy succeed in more ways than box office gross.
Rating: 4/5
Lilly Adams is a freshman majoring in film/video. To contact her, email lillyadams11@gmail.com.
