I have to admit that I like gimmicks in horror movies, especially when they work well. Paranormal Activity's use of a camera to film the actors sleeping caused the audience to constantly search the screen for any sign of, well, paranormal activity, ramping up the pleasurable anxiety and suspense. It Follows used the concept of an evil entity that walks towards its victims, never speeding up but also never stopping, to bring fresh fear to the saying "you can run, but you can't hide."
Likewise, John Krasinski's brutally effective horror film A Quiet Place uses sound--and lack thereof--to freak the audience the fuck out. I'd argue that sound is actually more effective at scaring the audience than visuals in horror films. Think of the best "jump scares" in horror movies: nearly all of them were punctuated with sound to make you leap out of your seat.
A Quiet Place takes place after the arrival of (we assume) extraterrestrial beings who are blind but have sharp hearing. As long as you don't make a sound above a whisper, you are safe. The Abbott family--dad Lee (Krasinski), mom Evelyn (Emily Blunt, who is married to Krasinski in real life), daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds), son Marcus (Noah Jupe), and youngest son Beau (Cade Woodward)--have survived longer than many people because they have a very important advantage: Regan is deaf, thus the family already knows American Sign Language.
Actress Simmonds, who is extraordinary in this film, is deaf in real life and the actors all learned ASL for the film. I thought it was really cool that a supposed "disability" was rewritten as a strength and an asset for the entire family (in more ways than one, as Regan's cochlear implant plays a pivotal role in the film).
However, the Abbots' suffered the loss of their youngest son 89 days after the arrival in an accident that was truly no one's fault, but hangs heavily on the family--especially Regan and Evelyn, who both torture themselves with the belief that they could have prevented it.
Cut to 1.5 years post-arrival. The Abbott family falls into a groove of survivalist harmony (and, I'll add, clear-cut gender roles: Evelyn cooks, does laundry, and keeps the house while Lee fishes, does outdoor work, and fiddles with a radio in an attempt to communicate with other survivors). But the fact that Evelyn is pregnant looms over the family--not only will she soon be very vulnerable, the family will be responsible for attempting to keep a baby quiet or all face death. Pretty fucked up.
A Quiet Place spends the first half of the film world-building and setting up the stakes for the second half of the movie, which is a non-stop roller coaster of dread, jump scares, and babies-and-children in peril. Of course, the loss of son Beau hangs heavily over the family even as they fight for their lives, adding emotional stakes to the film.
A Quiet Place will make the most impact on parents. Like most horror movies, the horror is a metaphor for something else: in this case, the unbearable weight of the loss of a child. Silence is a stand-in for isolation, a feeling that shrouds parents who have lost a child. But in conquering the literal monsters, the Abbotts find a way to forgive themselves and move forward--not just to survive, but to find meaning in life after the unimaginable.
Grade: A-
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