A Quiet Place

The main couple’s decision to bring a (crying) baby into the world that the movie creates for them in order for A Quiet Place to work as a suspenseful horror flick ruined it for me. The very opening scene of the walk through the woods, in which the parents let their youngest child walk unattended far behind them, indicated that there would be no hint of even basic common sense. Normally, such nonsense in movies doesn’t bother me, but here the key events in the storyline went totally AGAINST the sophistication of the director’s building of tension stemming from an interesting idea. It was painful to endure the stupidity of this movie, which I was looking forward to and which could (or should) have been perfectly to my taste. (10/04/2018)

A Quiet Place is primarily an outstanding psychological drama about loss (of a loved one, one’s own voice) and the impossibility of letting go of the attendant pain (which, however, can be turned into strength, an idea on which the film’s climax is partly based). The characters have to keep all of their emotions bottled up inside, which only deepens the trauma. Their resources and manifestations of joy, which would bring them relief, are severely limited. Playing the game on which today’s society is based (because we do not want only to consume, but also to have fun) means risking one’s life. In this respect, the film is the antithesis of the dystopia of Ready Player One, which depicts a society focused solely on playing a game. The initial tragedy occurs because of a toy, the next one nearly happens while playing a board game (typically, that game is Monopoly – this is the only way that the characters can treat themselves to the pleasure of shopping). Partners can dance only while wearing headphones; otherwise the use of the technologies on which we are so dependent today is practically out of the question. Thanks to the superb actors, information conveyed in the mise-en-scène and the way the characters react in certain situations, we always understand what the protagonists are going through and what they are doing, even though there is almost no dialogue in the film. It is in this aspect that I see the film’s main element of exceptionalism. It shows what many directors have learned in (not quite) a hundred years of cinematic sound design – how a psychologically layered story can be told without words. Due to the focus on the characters, the slower middle section of the film, the woman’s decision to conceive another child (to fill the void) and some slightly sentimental moments (which, however, are disturbing only when applying a purely horror reading) find their justification. As a horror movie, Krasinski’s film is brilliantly directed and hardly allows us to breathe, even though he uses relatively well-known tricks and rarely gathers the courage to be truly silent. Not only with its content, but also its style, A Quiet Place essentially confirms that American filmmakers fear few things more than absolute silence. The film is thus not remarkable so much because of its work with silence than as a clear connection between the basic conditions for survival in the given fictional world (on must not make any louder sounds) and what the characters are going through. The fact that the film ends in the best way (without eliciting the feeling that something essential remains unexplained) compelled me to add a fifth star to the obvious four. 90% (04/24/2018)

A straightforward family survival spiced up with one interesting variation (the motif of silence, even if it’s not exploited to the its fullest) that is tense rather than scary. The first half is held up by that one idea and great craftsmanship, but the second half is brought down by silliness and breaking the rules the film has laid down. It’s a bit of a problem when at the beginning we are told the monsters are sensitive to the tiniest crack, but during the chase at the end, their sensitivity works in any way that is convenient to the script. Why, for example, in a key moment the boy runs into a corn field is something I can’t make any sense of (I’ve never run into a corn field, but I guess it would be pretty noisy). And the second half is full of moments like this. The monsters are unfortunately shown way too often and they look disappointing, like run of the mill creatures that seem to have fallen out of a Marvel movie (the typical alien minions of the main villain that are there so the super heroes will have something to fight). Although I sound critical, A Quiet Place is an above average film, thanks mainly to the quality of its craftsmanship and the performances. With regards to the horror, at the time of release (April) it will hardly reach this year’s TOP 3 and the comments of it being the best horror film in the last years are totally unwarranted. (05/13/2018)

A great idea which sweetened the horror waters of the year 2018. A movie where there is little talking, because it’s set in a dystopian world with an extraterrestrial civilization that destroys everything that speaks aloud. There is a whole array of logical errors, but the simplicity and originality overshadow the contents. The suspense is literally spouting from the movie and the married couple Emily Blunt and John Karsinski are truly enjoying this family horror drama. Just like the viewer, after all. Only from a slightly different perspective. (10/11/2018)

Last of Us meets Walking Dead meets Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds. Despite the fact that Krasinski always veers from serious tones to slightly cheesy progressions and twists, this quiet elegy gripped me from the first to the last minute. That's how Shyamalan would have done it if he hadn't gone crazy. (04/24/2018)

What seems to be a boosted Spielberg style family drama with a clear concept that sets the rules by inner tension in the first half (before the fireworks) is a silly survival low-budget movie with cheap spooky sequences constantly violating the rules, showing one logical lapse after another and following the scheme of genre clichés the second half (after the shower). Slowly built tension in Shyamalan style (from the times of the Signs) versus glitz and dull-acting characters pushed like puppets moving from one adrenaline-packed adventure to another. The first half is excellent, the second is solid. But they are incompatible and go against each other. This should have been either a quiet cat with soft paws or an insanely barking dog during the whole footage but it is something in between. As a result, the most impressive part is prologue, which would perfectly work as a self-sufficient short-movie; (04/30/2018)

A Quiet Place, though I didn't quite believe it at first, is definitely the best modern horror film since The Conjuring. People who are stuck in the 80s and condemn anything new don't even deserve to see it. It's amazing to see a horror film in the cinema after a long time where you experience those uncomfortable feelings like chills, cold sweat and repeatedly jumping out of your seat (one gentleman fell down the stairs on his way to the toilet). John Krasinski clearly loves the horror genre, he has a great idea which he handles with grace, he avoids clichés, everyone involved behaves rationally and the monsters kick Alien's ass with ease (the appearance, the annoying noises, their speed, intelligence and the way they work in general is awe-inspiring). Kudos to Krasinski!! The contrast of the absolute silence that flips to an intense rumble in a moment stands out very nicely, creating an uncomfortable atmosphere as well as some very sneaky jump-scares that are unexpected and very effective. High praise for the music. Emily Blunt is better than ever and I felt the birth scene with her (and it f*cking hurt). Pleasingly, the film is R-rated, so there's a bit of gore too. A very powerful intense 90 minutes of terror that has some nerve wracking scenes and is very emotional and depressing at the end. My only criticism is the last few seconds, which will please the critics, but not much for me as a viewer. The cinema was packed, I hope a sequel or prequel is around the corner! Quite an experience and I'm glad I saw a scary horror film that didn't work with ghosts or demons. I'm curious to see if anyone can dethrone A Quiet Place, for now a clear number one this year. 95% (04/06/2018)

A Quiet Place has such a terribly well-constructed world, such a brilliantly layered narrative and such precisely built tension that one does not want to spoil it with nitpicking and cynical remarks. And there would be a number of them, the first of which being how suicidal it is to walk through this world with a spoiled teenager around one’s neck. However, that is not the case here and similar comments show defects in us rather than in the film. A Quiet Place may faulter in particular mishaps, but its power comes from its excellently thought-out world and its presentation through narration. And just like a slice of life from this unique world, the film is absorbing and fascinating. (05/16/2020)

My comment will not contain anything new. Many others have already noticed that Krasinski devotes much more energy and attention to building tension in individual scenes and achieving immediate effects at the expense of elementary logic and believability of the world he presents. You will enjoy A Quiet Place the more you refrain from thinking about logical inconsistencies and immerse yourself in the story with your brain turned off. Reflecting on how creatures so easily vulnerable could have taken over the world means spoiling the experience. If humanity was so witless that it allowed itself to be massacred by these nobodies, then it simply deserved its decline and exit from the stage. If you refuse the approach of "it happened, don't question it," you will suffer just like me. And rightly so. Overall impression: 40%. (04/09/2019)

Excellent work with atmosphere and sound, or in this case rather silence. It does not lack a few bold and juicy moments, but nothing original, just another variation of mysterious dystopian monster post-apocalyptic science fiction where something has gone fundamentally wrong and humanity doesn't know which way to go. Krasinski is certainly no ordinary routinist and has potential, but you can't win the Tour de France on a scooter. I believe his next film will be more ambitious instead of a horror one-off. (07/25/2018)

The second time around (especially with headphones on that can do surround sound), I have nothing to complain about regarding A Quiet Place. A stirring imaginative spectacle with the perfect Emily Blunt, which is not hurt by either the action-filled finale, which I did not particularly like in the movie theatre, nor the ominous music that does not disturb in any way those quiet thrilling scenes, but rather makes them a struggle for life. John Krasinski - the director obviously likes Steven Spielberg and I have nothing against that. (05/28/2018)

Rather than a convincing psychological portrait, I think A Quiet Place is a brilliant stylistic experiment not seen (and especially not heard) much in cinemas – though the term experiment should clearly be in quotation marks. Krasinski's debut works with exactly the same formulas that are the basis of the vast majority of contemporary horror, only that he uses them more cleverly and shows that it’s still possible to come up with something new, interesting and bold in a seemingly exhausted genre. The film's soundtrack is superb, and yes, it artfully combines a nerve-wrecking sci-fi plot with a clearly laid out family drama, where silence deepens not only the superficial atmosphere but also the repressed intimacy between the characters, but it's still noticeable that once the title motif gets even a little bit thicker, the film loses its lustre and punch. Fortunately, though, the weak spots are rare in the reasonable runtime, Krasinski inventively keeps the protagonists in check and, although he sticks to familiar templates overall, and remains at times overly incomplete, he concludes the story impressively on both a personal and stylistic level when sound, the equivalent of a dominant formal strategy and the absence of wistful family values, becomes the saving grace. A few things about the plot logic bothered me, but that had about the same effect on the overall experience as the German president has on local politics. Much respect and appreciation, this is a film to enjoy nice and quiet in the dark, with headphones and volume well to the right... 85% (06/24/2018)

Clearly, A Quiet Place better suits – by orders of magnitude – the atmosphere of a festival; the hype when it was released to the masses rather damaged the film. Thumbs up to John Krasinski for the nice little horror. I think he did a good job and personally, I got more or less what I was expecting. The only minor issue I had was with the music. First, I found it was, for the most part, quite unnecessary for this film (maybe even to the point of being disturbing). Then, it seemed to me Marco Beltrami basically stole the melody from Sicario by Jóhann Jóhannsson. However, these days an original soundtrack is hard to find, so I was able to get over it. [KVIFF 2018] (07/04/2018)

And how come no one thought to attack the aliens with sound when everyone knows how sensitive they are to it??? And why do the creatures at one point hear every single fart, when a scene earlier the characters are acting like they're at a gypsy wedding and it doesn’t worry them at all??? Etc etc etc. The local connoisseurs of horror trash here who speed-surf through six movies a week out of a sense of duty so they can label themselves fans, specialists, or experts, are unhappy as always because it pisses them off that they had to watch a movie again out of obligation, except they think the problem is the movie. Not to be taken seriously of course, A Quiet Place is an excellent genre exercise, and as long as you stick with that perception to the end, it's virtually flawless. Of course, the premise is such that the audience is constantly alerted whenever it strays from it, but that's simply an occupational hazard that will forever beleaguer films about time travel, for example. For me, for real, the real winner is the decision to have offspring, which from my perspective is about as good a decision as put pavers throughout a farmhouse surrounded by hypersensitive intruders who, at the drop of a pin, are on your doorstep within three seconds. Still, it probably fits that other reading of the story, where we certainly can't imagine that the main family would be a supporter of the pro-choice movement under any circumstances. Indeed, the film uses the alien invasion to construct the most traditional notion of an American family, one that has undergone pretty much no evolution since the 1950s. The caring but strong father (well-kept beard and furrowed brow) is a hunter, technician, handyman, and builder. The exhausted mother, of course, beats another drum, and while the man fetches the food, she gets the baby’s room ready and hangs out the washing. That their shared favorite music would be country is, of course, obvious. All this on a remote, broad, and self-sufficient farm, well-equipped for all threats and dangers. The wettest of dreams for any survivalist, sectarian, or generally any men who seek purpose in life. Apart from that, one interesting aspect (this time in a good way) is that the film basically goes nowhere the whole time, and from the second act to the end it's basically just damage control, where a final resolution only comes at the very end. Until then, the film can be admired for its stalwart adherence to its premise (except on two occasions) and its excellent grasp of the challenge of exposing another world without words, just by showing the routines of the characters and its use of the background. Something tells me that we'll be seeing more and more plots like this (people isolated in their mansions and bunkers, with other people just a threat), see 10 Cloverfield Lane or The Survivalist. Times are bad. (07/31/2018)

Man, what a letdown. This movie had the potential to be a stellar horror flick with its gripping concept and intriguing intro, but as the plot unraveled, my excitement slowly fizzled out. They had Emily Blunt in the cast, which was promising, but then they surrounded her with a bunch of unlikable characters, creating this sort of annoying Addams Family vibe. I found myself not really rooting for anyone, especially since everyone seemed to be making irrational decisions left and right. Let's talk about the logic — or lack thereof. What idiot would hammer a nail from underneath a wooden step? And that's just the tip of the iceberg; the movie seemed to take a vacation from logical thinking or the laws of physics (cue the deaf sister rescue scene — seriously, try that in real life). It was a lot of "Wait, what?" moments, and the film felt just as disjointed. There were some things that made sense, like the idea that there's no need to fear in a place with constant natural noise. Logical, right? So why does the entire family live in the quietest spot in the whole area? The film was packed with these head-scratching inconsistencies. One star goes to the concept, and another for the mother character who at least kept me somewhat invested. / Lesson learned: If a creature has eighty canines in its dental record, it's probably not a herbivore. (03/23/2022)

A Quiet Place has quite a few jump scares, some of which are somewhat shallow, but they do work. The incredibly oppressive atmosphere works too - in the movie theater you try not to even flinch, because you aren’t sure what would happen if you did. There are some excellent performances here, with young Millicent Simmonds in particular being incredible, and it makes absolutely no difference that she doesn't have to play a deaf girl. She carries A Quiet Place, which deserves all the attention it is getting. (05/30/2018)

The first half is excellent, but, for reasons that escape me, the second half gets transformed into a B-movie with an absence of logic, where the scary scenes don’t work even once and the whole survival mode kills the previously excellently built-up atmosphere. Great concept and execution, brilliant direction, superb acting performances, but the nonsense in the story is just too much to take. (11/20/2018)