I may have said before on this blog
that despite being a horror fan, it's rare that I find a film truly
frightening. Oh sure, I'll leap out of my skin at a well placed jump
scare, or find scenes lingering in my head long after the credits
have rolled, but sweaty-palmed, heart pumping terror is a rarity.
A Quiet Place,
directed by John Krasinski, may be the most tense I've felt in a
cinema. Much of this is based on it's premise, which is so head
slapping simple that a lot of people are probably angry at themselves
that they didn't come up with it years ago.
Without
giving too much away,
the world has been pretty much destroyed by the sudden arrival of a
horde of spindly-limbed, leathery skinned evil bastard monsters.
Though blind, they have acute hearing and move at deadly speed.
Basically, if you make a noise anywhere, at any time, you're quickly
in for a whole world of eviscerating. The family at the centre of the
film (their names are not given, though are seen in credits) has
a daughter who is deaf, so
they have presumably survived this long (the bulk of the film takes
place on “Day 430”) due to being fluent in sign language.
From
this relatively basic set up Krasinski is able to mine a seemingly
endless amount of tension. The sound design plays a large part, with
the score used sparingly and every noise made taking on terrifying
significance. This drags you
completely into the family's world, which is a deeply unpleasant
place to be. It doesn't help that the family (for most part) make
entirely the right decisions in order to survive, but things still go
so hideously wrong. An early scene sets out clearly and
heart-wrenchingly that absolutely no-one is safe.
The pacing also helps. Despite being
only 90 minutes long, the film is unafraid to take it's time. Early
sections show how the family are living their lives and surviving,
covering paths in sand, painting the non-squeaky floorboards, trying
to contact other survivors and teaching the kids maths. The slow pace
may be too much for some, but it only ramps up the energy when things
go even more to hell in the final third.
A Quiet Place
is a brilliant exercise in sustained tension, peppered with some of
the best jump scares your correspondent has seen (and heard) in a
while. The performances are uniformly excellent, with most emotions
obviously conveyed silently. The
creature design is impressive, with the beasts being like something
out of Silent Hill. It all adds up to an original and intelligent
horror film which is one of the scariest thrill rides of recent times
- 9
