A Quiet Place

Rating: 8/10 (18 May 2020)

A family fights to survive an unseen monster who attacks it's prey by hearing sounds such as voices or movements. They'll have to find A Quiet Place in order to stay alive.
In this film, the world has pretty much come to the end with unseen monsters killing any human it can hear, which means no sounds are allowed to be made if you want to survive. The film starts at Day 89 of the apocolyptic world when our main characters are attacked after accidentally making a noise during a grocery store run. The thing kills the young boy of the family. Fast forward to Day 472, and we see the family is living at a deserted farmhouse trying to find any other humans alive through SOS signals on radio systems. The wife of the family is also pregnant which of course could present a variety of problems when the way to stay alive is complete silence. The baby is finally born, and they find an interesting way to keep it's crying noises to a minimum. Can the family survive the new world with a newborn baby in tow, or will the monsters succeed in ending them?
A Quiet Place is such a breath of fresh air to the horror genre for me. The whole idea that 95% of the film is complete silence from the actors is a new one and was very well done by director John Krasinski and writers Bryan Woods/Scott Beck. The film felt a lot like The Walking Dead TV series, except without zombies it's the monsters who kill whenever they detects sound. It had an extremely effective apocalyptic feel to it, very end of of the world with complete isolation for the family that we are following.
Acting was top notch, especially from Krasinski who I wasn't a massive fan of before this movie. Millicent Simmonds is a standout as the teenage daughter of the family who is deaf and has to battle not only the loss of hearing but also this monster. There is a lot of sign language which is an added bonus for the family because they are able to communicate with each other without using their voices.
There is so much tension in this film that the audience can't help but on the edge of their seat at all times. There are kids in this movie which means lots of noise will happen, even if accidental. Things fall over and immediately you freak out because you know that the monsters have detected it and could strike at any moment. The family is constantly on guard and having to be aware of the noise they make in order to not get killed.
Everyone should see A Quiet Place, not just fans of the horror genre. It is a unique idea and is done extremely well with good acting and a well thought out story. It can be a bit predictable at times with a few of the scares, but it was a massive hit for me.
8/10