A Quiet Place

A QUIET PLACE

Director : John Krasinski

Year : 2018

Genre : Psychological horror 

Rating: ****1/2

John Krasinski's 'A Quiet Place' is a near-masterpiece of psychological terror, an intensely claustrophobic rollercoaster ride of a film that relentlessly preys on our most primal human fears to astonishingly powerful effect. Set in a bleak post-apocalyptic future, the film sees Krasinski as a fearless father and husband who must silently protect his young children and his heavily pregnant wife (brilliantly played by Krasinski's real-life partner Emily Blunt) from the blind yet sound-sensitive predators that have decimated the population of the planet. 

Despite working in collaboration with Michael Bay's otherwise loathsome horror-reboot factory Platinum Dunes, Krasinski (who became a household name thanks to his comedic turn in the US remake of Ricky Gervais' BBC hit 'The Office') has succeeding in creating one of the scariest movies of recent years. His methods of sustaining a palpable air of threat and imminent danger are comparable to the filmmaking techniques used by genre legends of old such as Wes Craven or John Carpenter and while they are at their most effective when they aren't on screen, his monsters are nonetheless extremely menacing - looking  like an unholy fusion of H.R Giger's iconic alien design and the city-destroying colossus of 'Cloverfield' fame. Added to the already high tension is the imminent birth of the central couple's baby, a ticking time-bomb whose screams and cries will inevitably spell instant death  as well as the expert sound design which accentuates the  otherwise innocuous creaking of floorboards, the whistling of the wind and the crunching of leaves underfoot to set our nerves on a knife-edge - the first 15  minutes alone are a masterclass of atmosphere, tension and pure unadulterated fear, accomplished without a single word of dialogue spoken.

At 90 minutes, 'A Quiet Place' is a short yet sharp attack on the senses that will surely go down in history as one of the scariest movies of the decade, if not of all time. At a time when conventional big budget franchise fare dominates the box office, John Krasinski has proved himself to be a new beacon of hope for intelligent American horror and as Jordan Peele similarly demonstrated last year with his Academy Award winning smash hit 'Get Out', terror can indeed come from the most unassuming of places. Silence has never been so scary.