Sound is often one of my biggest complaints with scary movies. Typically, I can expect droning, creeping cellos to create a sense of dread, while violins jump in at the opportune time to scare me when the evil monster pops up. Scary movies are horribly unimaginative with their music and sound design, using them for cheap jump scares and obvious emotional cues rather than for truly enhancing the atmosphere.
That's why I was very excited for A Quiet Place, the latest directorial project from The Office star John Krasinski. The premise of the film revolves around a somewhat post-apocalyptic scenario in which strange and aggressive monsters, who operate entirely on their sense of sound, have whittled down humanity's population to only those who have figured out how to live in near-complete silence. One such group is the Abbott family—a family of four who has spent the last 200-some days of their lives trying to figure out not only how to remain alive, but also how to remain a family. The father, Lee (Krasinski), is a loving father who struggles to get his children to understand their cicircumstances without having the luxury of being able to have fully formed conversations with them (because monsters). His greatest source of strength, and the mother of his children, Evelyn (Emily Blunt), is better understood by her children, and tries to help them understand the rules and restrictions their father has placed on their lifestyle. The oldest child, Regan (Millicent Simmonds), has struggled the most with this new way of life, and wonders if her father resents her for it. Lastly, Marcus (Noah Jupe) is the capable and trusting younger son who wants despdespera for his older sister to feel loved.
The reason I lunged into the details of the family dynamics is because, uncharacteristically for the genre, A Quiet Place puts them at the forefront. Its greatest strength is in its patience in developing the Abbotts into living, breathing human beings worth empathizing with. The monster threat truly comes second, which is quite refreshing. All four of the family give strong, emotional performances, not to mention physically demanding ones. When the monsters come, you feel fear, if not from the monsters themselves, from the threat on these characters' well-beings.
Additionally, the Abbott's world feels naturally lived in and detailed—we see newspaper clippings from before the fall of society, which Lee has collected and pieced together in hopes of learning more about the monsters, and makeshift security systems he has gradually put in place all over their farmhouse. It's a nice flourish on top of the enticing premise of not being able to make noise.
Unfortunately, where the film falls short is in that very premise: the use of sound. Much like other horror and thriller films, A Quiet Place has a dominating, droning score that, while fairly good in terms of melodic interest, somewhat undermines the feeling that everything should be utterly silent as our characters hide desperately from the monsters. I think I'd have been much more scared had I been sitting in silence just like they were, mentally kicking myself for every twitch, rustle, or heavy breath that might ruin the safety of quiet. Instead, Lee and Evelyn sit there, cowering in silence (as they should be) while my ear drums are getting blown out by an almost Hans Zimmer-esque score.
Additionally, the sound design is disappointingly typical of the genre, with sudden movements and noises emphasized by predictable and cheap violin shrieks. It would have been much more impressive and engaging if it had merely been the foley art that carried the scares. It felt disingenuous for a film so grounded and with such an emphasis on sound to have music conjuring up the fear. It was a missed opportunity to separate itself from the genre.
Even still, A Quiet Place is an impressive turn as director from Krasinski. His command of emotion and tension is strong, even if the actual scares come somewhat cheap. He has said in interviews that the reason he made the film was for the family dynamic that reminded him of his own (he has two young children with wife and costar Blunt), rather than the horror elements. It'd be easy to believe that he might have made this movie without the horror altogether if he could have.
In all, A Quiet Place makes for a unique and compelling family drama, as well as a stripped down take on the thriller genre. Despite fairly mundane scares and a too-typical score, as well as a disappointing use of sound, it's still a riveting little story about sacrifice and familial bonds. Plus, it's John Krasinski and Emily Blunt playing husband and wife. That in itself is worth the ticket.