John Krasinski may be a familiar face to THE OFFICE (US) fans across the world but where the jovial American may have broken hearts in the past, takes a much more rugged role as he takes the position of director and lead in masterful suspense horror title, A QUIET PLACE.

 

Set in Middle America, the Abbot family must live in silence as they fight for survival against creatures that hunt using an enhanced sense of sound. After a year on their own, they are put through more challenging times as they brink on the edge of survival, pushing each member of the family to their limits to tragic consequences.

 

A QUIET PLACE is Krasinski’s first foray into horror and he strikes the ball out of the park. Most audiences will familiarise themselves with the films set up, after all the film is a survival horror that has been played out before, most recently with IT COMES AT NIGHT but much more frequently across the zombie genre as a whole and at times does feel a little too familiar yet as similar movies would use the silence to build tension for a scene, this does it for an entire film.

 

Reaching the 90 minute run time, for the majority it is a silent film often compensated by subtitles and hand gestures with little room for any spoken word. This in itself is a strong feat to not feel boring or tedious at any time and the runtime is a perfect accompaniment to the sheer feeling of dread that the film never lets up on. While there are minimal moments of speech, the silence is broken by Marco Beltrami’s thrilling score, the same hypnotising doom that he bought to LOGAN and NO ESCAPE is back with a not so loud bang.

 

As for the creatures, unfortunately it does give away too much too soon and the film could have played on the guess work of what was going for much longer than the first 5 minutes. The design is interesting but feels like it's taken a large portion of inspiration from a few films and one TV show in particular. That's not to say they are any less frightening, just familiar.

 

There is a huge amount of praise to be had for the cast as each are perfectly moulded for their respective role. Emily Blunt proves once more why she is Hollywood’s leading lady as she balances strength and humanity in equal bouts, never over stepping the mark as she goes through Hell to protect her family and a standout role for Millicent Simmonds who brings a unique gift to her role as their deaf daughter. As each of the family grow over the course of the event, the closing moments become all the heavier for it. For those seeking a film of hope and glamour need look away now as A QUIET PLACE is THE DESCENT meets THE MIST in one of 2018’s contenders for film of the year!