A Quiet Place.

Review #1073: A Quiet Place.

Cast: 
Emily Blunt (Evelyn Abbott), John Krasinski (Lee Abbott), Millicent Simmonds (Regan Abbott), Noah Jupe (Marcus Abbott), Cade Woodward (Beau Abbott), and Leon Russom (Man in the woods) Directed by John Krasinski.

Review: 
In horror films, the best way to elicit scares is generally to use certain movements or certain imagery to get a reaction that will hopefully be effective consistently enough to deliver good entertainment. With this film, it utilizes its selective choice of sound and atmosphere to deliver a tense but successfully suspenseful horror film that I readily enjoyed. Its reliance on sound as a form of raising tension is effective, in part because the movie knows exactly what it is striving for with its sound, not making needless sound for the sake of a cheap thrill. This is the kind of movie that doesn't become just a gimmick without any sort of substance to it, having a heart to it. The film's emphasis on the family is fairly watchable, resonating well in a way that feels authentic, where you care about these characters and aren't just wanting to get a glimpse at the creature. It's interesting to watch a film that has more American Sign Language than English, where you can count the amount of scenes of dialogue between characters with their voices on probably one hand. In any case, the actors do a good job, being interesting to watch in their story and carrying their emotions on their sleeve with fair ease. The film's structure is fairly well done, and while it may have some slight distractions at times with some of the choices made, the basic outline is sound enough. Blunt, and Krasinski have fine chemistry with each other that is neatly natural, and Simmonds and Jupe do fine jobs in selling their roles without much hesitation. The film is shot well, having a clean and calculated look by Charlotte Bruus Christensen, with a fairly effective music score by Marco Beltrami and satisfactory direction from Krasinski (who helped with writing the screenplay along with Bryan Woods and Scott Beck, who are credited for story). The effect for the creature are fairly decent,  The movie runs at a fairly coherent pace of 90 minutes, managing to be entertaining at the right moments along with having enough charm to power itself a winner.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.