So now the World Cup has ended in heartbreak it’s time to focus back on the horror movies. It’s been a while since my last review mainly because it’s so incredibly time consuming watching three and a half football matches a day. Now however I’m back and after managing to catch a showing of A Quiet Place at the cinema in it’s dying weeks, I thought it’s a good place to start to get back into the swing of things!
Director – John Krasinski
Writers – Bryan Woods, Scott Beck and John Krasinski
Stars – John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe and Cade Woodward.
Budget – $17 million estimated
Tagline – If They Hear You, They Hunt You
Recently horror has made a more mainstream impact on cinema with films like Don’t Breathe and Get Out grossing a load of money and getting some very decent reviews from the more mainstream media. As such A Quiet Place got hyped up pretty well, the concept a simple one, sound gets you killed. It’s such a unique idea to put into a movie and it’s one I’ve not seen done before although I stand corrected if it has been!
The story is simple we can assume from the opening scenes that most of the world has fallen victim to some kind of creature that attacks people who make a noise. This can be any noise from speaking to dropping something on the floor. We’re shown this by some old newspaper clippings as a family of five search a store for supplies. There’s the Mum and Dad who clearly know exactly what is going on and their three children.
It’s not long until tragedy strikes in pretty brutal fashion as the monster is slightly revealed. This event leaves the family shocked and upset. They settle into a house that they’ve sound proofed as much as they can but these creatures are persistent. As the film rolls on we get to see more and more of what they look like. At first glance I wasn’t too keen on the design, it reminded me of the arachnids from Starship Troopers.
Everything seems to be going well for the family but these things don’t last at all or it wouldn’t be a horror film would it? The young lad is scared all the time and his sister seems the braver of the families youngsters. Soon the monsters attack and the Father has to use everything h has learnt to keep his family safe, as well as them using their own skills.
The film has several tense scenes during all this, where the wife superbly played by Emily Blunt has to dodge two of the creatures inside the house they’ve built. This is where we start to see more of the creature design and it’s frigging amazing, as I said I wasn’t keen at first but this scene really turned things around. Everything leads to a tense and action pack last 20 minutes or so with every member of the family fighting for their lives.
The Good
- John Krasinski and Emily Blunt are superb.
- I always love a film with a small cast and this only has five people as main characters with a couple of extremely small roles, it also helps that all them were so good.
- The monster design turned out really cool in the end.
- Top notch effects.
- The film is paced beautifully.
The Bad
- There’s one massive story point in this film that makes me knock points off for the stupidity of the characters. Some people might not see it as much of a big issue but I don’t want to post spoilers so I won’t say what it is here, if you’re curious you can DM me on Twitter!
- There’s also some things you can’t help think about in a world where sound gets you killed, what if you snore? fart? piss? sneeze? cough? or number 2? As disgusting as some of these things are to discuss it’s something that’s never covered at all.
This is well worth a watch and John Krasinski does a great job acting and directing. There’s plenty of room for sequels with this film, they don’t even have to include any of the original cast. I’d be well on board as long as Krasinski was directing. Overall it’s a strong monster movie with a very decent premise and the possibilities of this world are huge but it will also survive as a lone story.
Overall Rating – 7.5/10
Acid Horrors 