You see, in reference to what I said to my friend, this film is not quiet. Other than perhaps 15% of scenes are actually dead quiet, and that's not enough. The music in this film is what really ruined the emersion. The score itself is bland and boring, feeling like stock music, so that doesn't help - but it's ultimately very disappointing because music takes up so much of this film when it doesn't need to be there. Sure music can help emote a film but in something like this there's no room to immerse yourself in this world, it just doesn't feel real. Krasinski said that the music was meant to 'hold your hand' during the film yet what horror doesn't rely on music to do this, to tell you to feel scared? It's like a laugh track in a sitcom, an audience doesn't need to be notified when to laugh. And even here all of the scares are jump scares, which yes would work in a quiet film but isn't that just a bit too predictable and generic? Silence is a great tool to scare someone, you can feel part of that world when all you can hear are natural sounds coming from that world, but as soon as you hear a THUWNG sound to scare you, it's just cheap and lazy, and I hoped A Quiet Place would be better than that.

The writing and world building is pretty terrible, considering what the film sets up. Granted, the opening of the film, just before we see the title card, is great. Music is still used I will say, but at this point in the film I was genuinely interested. We get to see characters demonstrating how quiet you need to be in this world, with Blunt's character cautiously turning a pot of pills to check the label. It's a 'show don't tell' kind of thing, and the film does well at points in demonstrating this, but in establishing rules in this world, Krasinski breaks them all the time. I can't wait to go back and watch this and point out all of the times the characters make noises that should pull the creatures to them but don't, this might sound like a nitpick but if you're going to create a world like this you should at least plot it out - there are so many plot holes involving sound that in the end it made it hard to actually respect what the film was trying to do. It just felt so obnoxious. I've seen some snippets of the screenplay and it didn't come as a surprise to me how weak and not really thought out it was.

If I was going to list out some good things other than the opening scenes? Emily Blunt is fantastic as always, compared to Krasinski who I laughed at everytime he pulled a face to try and emote. The bathtub scene is great for Blunt as she pulls off a pretty tense performance. I guess I liked how little characters there were too, and the isolated feel of the whole thing, but as I say the overall construction of the film does nothing to really make you scared or worried for these characters. I was really hoping for a horror film that would do away with these cliches, and I know there are plenty out there, of course, that's why I love The Shining. But this is such a wasted opportunity, and cinema trip for me too. Also, side note, can we stop it with making creatures in these films always looking like a hybrid of a Xenomorph and a Demogorgon? Seriously, all of them are just seeming to roll into one now, I feel like all these films are part of the same world. Ah-hem. Thanks for reading.

1/5