A Quiet Place: An Assault on the Senses

By Ashley Hazan

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     Not once in my seventeen years have I seen a movie score 100 percent on the infamous Rotten Tomatoes review. This week alone the thriller A Quiet Place brought in 50.2 million dollars, ranking first in the box office. The film, directed by John Krasinski, proves to be one of the most gripping and electrifying movies of this decade, captivating a wide array of audiences.
     Some individuals tend to think that the typical, alien-based horror movies have been released one too many times. Each containing the same storyline, each instilling the same “fear” into the hearts of the audience, and, of course, each ending with the same outcome: everyone lives. Enough is enough.
​     A Quiet Place, on the other hand, is far from your ordinary horror flick and truly keeps the audience’s heart rate at a rapid 180 beats. The storyline is simple, yet clever: “If they hear you, they hunt you.”                   

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     Centering around a toxic, post-apocalyptic time, a family of five cautiously tip-toes (for reasons unknown to us) through a desolate town. We soon discover through a rocket toy’s “take off” noise that any sound results in a scaly, repelling creature preying upon the source. Within seconds these blind creatures move in for the kill.
​     Within the first ten minutes, I assumed I would either fall asleep, become bored, or walk out of the theater. After all, silent films aren't the most appealing in the 21st Century. However, A Quiet Place forces the audience to be an active participant in the tense and nerve-wracking plot. Unlike other thrillers, which require the audience to watch the terror unfold, Krasinski makes the audience become a part of the fright. Once the sound disappears, it’s our natural response to lean in. A Quiet Place’s audience has to pay special attention to facial expressions, gestures, and the emotions seeping out of the actors, something a typical audience rarely has to do.
​     The film is one of a kind. It peels away an audience’s comfort level, creating an intensity and stress no other film can reenact. Who knew silence could be so deadly?

Jonny Cournoyer/ Paramount Pictures