By: Jenny Robinson
"If they can’t hear you, they can’t hunt you.”
I have been obsessed with horror movies my entire life. From the moment I watched Jason rise from Crystal Lake, I was hooked. It doesn’t matter the type of horror, I am fully in. I enjoy the cheesy, the murderous, the supernatural, the monsters, the killers, the suspense and all things goosebump worthy. I am one of those odd sorts that scary stuff does not stay with me long so I don’t struggle with shadows or nightmares in most cases. It is rare that I can find a movie that does spark that lingering fear. When I do, it’s worth noting.
A Quiet Place is one of the more intelligent horror movies I have seen. It truly is real genius. A script with such little dialogue that you spend the movie afraid of the sound of your own breath, proving anticipation is a true parent of fear. Every silent moment of this movie had a frustrating expectancy of something horrible about to happen. The music by Marco Beltrami is perfectly placed and becomes another character in the film. It helps build drama and terror as you move through the silence. The story does a considerable job of having you expect a jump scare yet never fully understanding the formula of when it may hit. Some of the shock moments are predictable where others I seriously caught myself thinking: “I CAN’T BELIEVE THEY WENT THERE!”. That in my honest opinion is a formula to a winning script.
To top it off, John Krasinski should get some serious praise for his performance in this. With very little dialogue, he was able to pull the viewer deep into the mind set and emotion of a struggling father in an unfathomable situation. It is not a new story plot to have the parents attempting to raise their children in the apocalypse. We have seen it before in stories like Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, where by teaching your children you can hopefully save them. When you add disabilities, isolation, and evolution to a monster film the character development must be unambiguous. I feel they nailed it with this cast. I spent a good portion of the film amazed by Emily Blunt’s portrayal of the determined mother. The children played by Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe were stubborn and relatable.
The suspense is the real character of this story though. Monster movies should always have the hunt that makes you cautious for those suffering in the plot. This is what has made movies like Alien and Jaws so remarkable. I also enjoy that there is a new push for monsters. Invasion stories always lend to some great opportunities. Before seeing the full film, the trailer scared me as Kransinski is running and you see something parallel in the forest… running faster. The tease gives you just enough to want to cover your eyes because nothing good can come of that.
I am curious of how this movie will be received. It is so different from what most viewers are accustom to when it comes to being scared. It has a story pace like very few others. I loved it.
To note: I don’t think I could ever watch it alone in a quiet house. Just saying.