A Quiet Place

They say a picture paints a thousand words, and that certainly rings true in the case of “A Quiet Place”. The premise of the movie is based on silence, which means there is very few bits of dialogue in the film. The silent film is by no means a new concept, but when you can successfully create tension and tell a story in the best possible way with possibly a page’s worth of words – you’ve hit a home run.

We meet the Abbott family on day 82 of the apparent apocalypse, with John Krasinski and Emily Blunt playing parents Lee and Evelyn, and Millicent Simmons and Noah Jupe playing their children Regan and Marcus. Regan is deaf, so while the family already speak in sign language, it proves to be imperative to their overall survival.

As mentioned before, the dialogue is sparse, and the narrative is largely told through sign language, newspaper articles, whiteboards, security cameras and the tragic demise of those who make any form of noise. Noisy cinema-goers beware, as this movie is quieter than quiet, meaning that every burp you try and sneak and every cough you let out is heard – by everyone else.

The overall tone of “A Quiet Place” is essentially Stephen King meets “Alien”, though the creatures in the film make some seriously Predator-like sounds. The greatest mystery in the film is the origin of the creatures and if you’re expecting an answer – you may be disappointed. Instead, the film is more focused on the Abbott family and how they go about navigating their daily life to survive another day – as well as the internal conflict that comes with being a part of any family.

Krasinski has created a horror-thriller filled with tension, edge-of-your-seat scares and a rich and exciting storyline – and the director deserves props for that as he delivers all that from an almost dialogue-less script. It’s far from predictable and doesn’t outstay its welcome, clocking in at under 100 minutes, so you never feel like it’s dragged on too much.

There’s so much going on in “A Quiet Place” that you forget you only really see 4 actors for the majority of the film, and that you’ve also not heard any words in quite a while. It’ll entice horror and sci-fi lovers alike, so be sure to see it on the big screen – but save the eating until after you’ve left the cinema.