"A Quiet Place"

Last night my husband and I went to see this movie in lieu of doing anything else for Cinco de Mayo. The movie was the directing debut of John Krasinski (from the American version of “The Office”) and starred both himself and his wife, Emily Blunt. As I’m not normally a fan of horror films (though I did quite like “The Blair Witch Project” and the “Nightmare on Elm Street” trilogy), I probably wouldn’t have gone had we not seen a clip from the movie, and heard the two actors discussing it on our favorite British talk show, “Graham Norton.”

In a nutshell, the world has gone to hell in a handbag after being invaded by some sort of alien creatures (which may or may not have arrived via meteorites according to a news headline I read in the background) which stalk their prey based on sound (any sound). This movie is about a family of survivors: Evelyn (mom), Lee (dad), Regan (their adolescent daughter), Marcus (their slightly younger son),

and Beau, the baby of the family at a precocious 4 years old. Also, if just surviving day to day isn’t enough, we quickly see that Evelyn is pregnant and due soon. I read a review that compared the situation to a “ticking time bomb,” which is certainly an apt description.

I was pleased to see the ingénue, Millicent Simmonds, a deaf actress who also starred in “Wonderstruck” playing the role of their daughter, Regan. Having been a fan of the ABC Family network show, “Switched at Birth,” I have some idea how Regan took in her surroundings. One might think deafness ideal in a world where everyone has to be silent, but, as you might imagine, she had no idea of when or what sounds things made, so slip-ups are (and were) certainly possible.

Not to compare the movie in an unfavorable light, but it did strike me as a little bit like “Tremors” meets “Jurassic Park” with a bit of “Signs” thrown in for effect. Whoever designed the aliens had obviously seen “Alien” since they bear quite a few similarities.

Even if you’re not a fan of horror films, this isn’t your traditional slice and dice boogie man thriller. A lot of thought went into this film, and if you can’t imagine a scenario when all has gone quiet (try imagining an EMP outage if you really want to know), take in this film to have your eyes opened.

Kudos to Kasinski and Blunt. I only hope their efforts pay off at the Oscars next year.