A Quiet Place is, believe it or not, a quiet movie (not for fans of bringing loud movie snacks to the cinema). Following a family surviving in a world overrun with monsters with highly sensitive hearing – make one sound, and you’re dead – much of the film is very quiet, if not silent, and conversations take place using sign language or very soft whispering, creating an eerie and tense atmosphere on screen and in the audience.

Noise is, at first, used sparingly and very effectively; becoming so used to hearing very little and knowing the dangers of making a sound means that even a lamp being knocked over is a huge shock to the system, creating jump scares from the most mundane events. Silence really is the film’s strongest point, with rare dialogue scenes fairly unnecessary and a little clunky compared to the lean elegance of the rest of the script.

Director John Krasinski and Emily Blunt play the couple trying to protect themselves and their children in what seems like a desperately futile attempt as the film hits its stride midway through and churns the family through a relentless set of ever increasingly horrific scenarios. Blunt, especially, has some truly terrifying sequences to silently battle her way through, and does an excellent job of bringing the familiar story of an alien invasion to life with fresh horror.

Alongside Blunt, the other actors all handle expressing heightened emotions without being able to use their voices extremely well, especially deaf actor Millicent Simmonds, who plays a deaf girl trying to navigate a world where the ability to hear is a matter of life or death.

A Quiet Place is a superbly taut horror film that uses its gimmick to scarily good effect, and will be sure to stun audiences into silence.

RATING: 4/5

INFORMATION

CAST: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe

DIRECTOR: John Krasinski

WRITER: Bryan Woods, Scott Beck, John Krasinski

SYNOPSIS: A family is forced to live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound.