3.5/5 Stars

These days, it is hard to find a great original horror product like “Get Out” (2017) playing in theaters and not run into something that is an unnecessary extension of a franchise. To be fair, though, today is probably not as bad as the 1980s, where endless sequels were being made for slasher films. “A Quiet Place” is a horror film that hopes to be the next great original horror product. It comes close, but does not quite achieve that greatness.

The film opens in a devastated town devoid of human beings except for one family: a mother (Emily Blunt, “Sherlock Gnomes”), a father (John Krasinski, “Detroit”) and three children played by Millicent Simmonds (“Wonder Struck”), Noah Jupe (“Wonder”) and Cade Woodward. The family is forced to live an everyday life where sign language and whispering are the primary means of communication and nobody can make any sound. If even the sound of a shoe crunching salt is heard, an unknown threat will appear and attack whatever is in its range.

The first thing to note is that the atmosphere is fantastic. The cinematography consists of wide shots out in the open, emphasizing the loneliness of this haunting world, and in close quarters, there are close-ups on the actor’s faces that focus on the raw performances of the actors. At times, it is so silent that even familiar sounds like running water and footsteps, however muted, stand out well. There are monsters in the film, but for at least the first half, the film hides them very well, with only blink-and-you’ll-miss-it glimpses here and there. The score is shockingly emotional and may bring a tear to a viewer’s eye during the saddest moments.

Krasinski, who is also the director, has the most emotional performance of the film, and it is clear just in his face his struggle to keep up his relationships with his children who are losing faith in him. Blunt is not so bad either, and surprisingly, the kids pull off decent performances, unlike in many other horror films where the kids get so annoying that audiences pray for them to get killed. The film certainly does not hold back showing how a family can be affected by this type of extreme living situation.

However, this perfect scenario only completely holds up in the first half. Once the second half arrives, the complications start coming. A simple problem is the use of a couple familiar horror tropes, like fake-outs. Also, without spoiling any major twists, the monsters do reveal themselves eventually, and it is quite disappointing when one gets a full view of them. To put it lightly, they just look like a collection of monsters from other horror films put together. Not completely revealing what they look like in the first half only adds to the disappointment.

The biggest problem has to do with a glitch in the film’s familiar theme. Blunt’s character is pregnant throughout the film, and everyone is clearly preparing for that event. The problem is this is where some of the film’s contrivances turn up. Too often, horror films have used the presence of babies to create forced emotional stakes, and this is no different. Not once do the mother and father discuss whether it is worth bringing another child into a world that is quite unsafe. Logically, it would create more problems for the family and add more unnecessary work. There is a tense moment where the mother is being chased by the monsters, and how pregnancy comes into play feels unjustifiably forced.

Image from Paramount Pictures via YouTube.com