Darkly Atmospheric (Big Props for the Subtitles As Well!)

Rating: 8/10 (7 June 2018)

Picture this, a theater that is just about packed. Most of the rows are full, but it is nearly completely silent. That was my experience when I went to see this movie and it was unearthly! The movie draws you right into the mood where sound is not desired, I didn't even want to eat my popcorn in case the bag rustled as I moved. There were only a few moments where the audience I was with made noise and all of those were gasps or tiny shrieks at the appropriately scary moments.
I was amazed the movie could do that. They did so much with such little sound it was beautiful and it certainly forced you to pay close attention to the film itself. You don't want to miss something important the characters have done without noise. Monsters that hunt by sound are not a new idea but this film ramps it up to eleven so that the littlest noise in the movie leaves you perched on the edge of your seat sweating, waiting to see if the monsters are coming.
Most of the acting in the movie is pretty solid as well, a real credit to the talent because they have to communicate all their character's feelings (almost)solely through expressions, gestures and body language. I was particularly impressed with Emily Blunt as the mother. Her pained struggle during the beginning of her labor was primal and palpable. John Krasinski also did a great job, though he mostly spoke with his eyes. And the kids were good, they're kids so they can only improve no matter what.
Compliments on the performances and atmosphere aside I did notice some problems with the film. It strikes me as a plot hole that nobody figured out high-pitched noise harms the creatures and can drive them away until day well after a year that they showed up. And I felt the father's death, as touching as his last "words" to his daughter are, to be unnecessary. It sort of felt like they killed him just to make the audience sad rather than it being a vital part of the story which bums me out because he was a great character. I also felt the flooded basement scene, though very scary to watch and well shot, probably could have been cut as it really didn't do anything in terms of moving the story forward or advancing characterization.
All in all I think this is certainly one of the top horror movies of the 2010s and definitely worth seeing. I also really appreciate that Krasinski sought out a Deaf actress for the daughter in the movie and had an ASL mentor to help teach the cast on set. It certainly helped that they were using real Sign. I took my hard of hearing mother with me when I went and she was very enthusiastic to see that they were both signing and had subtitles as she struggles to understand movies without captions. It made her theater experience more enjoyable to have this film accessible to her. Thank you to John and the producers for making the decision to subtitle all of the lines, mom gives you two thumbs up!