When I first viewed the trailers for this movie my expectation was that I was going to give it a pass. However upon several decent reviews from critics whose tastes fall close to mine own I decided to give the film a go.

A Quite Placebelongs to that sub-genre of horror films, the monster movie. Following in the tradition of Tremors, albeit without that films comedy, A Quiet Placenever explains precisely what the monsters are, how they came about, or even if they have anything beyond a predator’s cunning. The set-up for the film is simple, 89 days before the story’s opening scene mysterious monster appeared in the world and began slaughtering. Each movie monster needs a gimmick and this is that the monsters are blind, operating on passive sound detection to hunt. To survive means to be quiet. This is a movie without nearly any traditional dialog and not since Buffy The Vampire Slayer’sepisode Hushhas a story rotated so central around characters robbed of speech.

The film follows the Abbott family struggling to survive following civilization’s collapse in an environment where noise brings deaths. The Abbotts have an advantage in the scenario, their daughter Regan is deaf and the entire family is fluent in American Sign Language. This silent communication allows the Abbotts extraordinary coordination but is limited by line of sight and distance. When the characters communicate this way the film supplies subtitles. Great stretches of the story occur when character have become separated resulting in a film that carried by silent performances.

The filmmakers followed in the talents of Ridley Scott and refrained from showing the monster except in bit, pieces, and flashes until the climax of the action. Some have criticized the creature design are uninspired and while it hardly breaks new ground for me 0t did not spoil the film.

Though there are a number of credited screenwriters, usually the sign of a muddled and failing screenplay, A Quiet Placeclearly benefitted from Writer/Director/Star John Krasinaki’s vision for what he wanted to achieve, yielding a unified plot and atmosphere normally absent with so many writers. Emily Blunt stars as Evelyn Abbott and a couple of talented young actors round out the family besieged by ravenous monsters. The sequence of events is logical, the tension of taunt, and the characters are both realistic and relatable. Over all this is a good film and well worth watch. I think it benefits from a good theater experience and mine was a good one. The audience remained quiet, engrossed in the drama and the terror. If you wait for home video please make sure you watch this without undue interruptions.