Another overrated modern "horror"

Rating: 2/10 (29 June 2018)

A Quiet Place plays on the incredibly banal horror movie cliche where the absence of sound in a scene paves way for some jump-scares. Not only does the shock value increase in a movie like this, where the premise is built around not making any noise for extended amounts of time, it also helps with storytelling. Because there is little dialogue, the audience's focus is often times directed completely towards the characters: what they say, how they're saying it, their facial expressions when doing certain things, and any other things of the sort. In other words, it's a visual experience, and possibly a visceral one for some people. As a horror movie, it definitely had thrills but was it really THAT scary? Horror, of course, is subjective but I'll say this: A Quiet Place is rated PG-13, allowing for a more diverse age demographic of moviegoers and not once during my viewing along with a packed auditorium did I hear any screaming or outcries.
Of course, the best (and quite frankly the only good) performances came from Emily Blunt and John Krasinski, with Blunt being the top dog between the two. It has been said by John Krasinski (not in his exact words) that his intention for this movie was to portray the somewhat primal desire to protect one's family. His success in doing so came from the fact that he and Emily Blunt have a family of their own, and were able to resonate with the story. This is why their performances were as good as they were. As a film about family, this one had a cool take on the protection of loved ones.