Phenomenal premise with a balance of originality and familar execution

Rating: 8/10 (15 April 2018)

I never watch its trailer or anything about this movie, but I was very hyped for it because I'm a horror addict and hearing about compliments for a horror film are rare these days. So when A Quiet Place finally came out, I was actually going in thinking it's a scary supernatural movie, literally. Shhh, let me finish!
Hence, it came to the silly me as a surprise when it turned out to be a low-budget monster flick (It is a family drama with horror-themed, to be more accurate, as the director John Krasinski emphasized). It does feel a lot more like family drama as the film progresses as you'll truly care about the characters while they are put in danger.
This is the kind of movie which you are literally "watching" it to understand it. There are less than 10 lines of spoken dialogue throughout the film. Hence its tension are mostly presented through visuals. And that is the strongest part in the film - its suspenseful build-up and the OMG payoffs. In between those, there are action-oriented tension thrown at you starting from second half of the film.
However, I think these clever ideas could have been more brilliant if it doesn't rely on familiar execution (or cliche). For example, the build up in some scenes are done intentionally for an expected consequence, which will only makes us wait for it to finally happen. It could be a technique to create suspense, but it truly feels annoying at times since you've seen these same kind of acts played out in so many other movies before. And that's the only takeaway from this film for me.
I would highly recommend this film if you like horror films with an original premise (or a horror-themed family drama). But do expect to be disappointed if you are a hardcore monster/horror flick fans because despite the originality, some ideas that support this premise are rather familiar and intentionally presented to appeal for a wider audience.