A Quiet Place (John Krasinski)

[Henry Gale]

IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6644200/) / Wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Quiet_Place_(film))

https://dx35vtwkllhj9.cloudfront.net/paramountpictures/a-quiet-place/images/regions/us/onesheet.jpg

[Henry Gale]

I liked it quite a bit. It's extremely taut and ingeniously sparse, knowing how and when to dole out its horror elements and necessary dialogue without ever getting bogged down in detailing things it trusts you to figure out, as the world it creates is so cinematically inclined that it doesn't need to work for any other form but one that requires your full visual and aural attention. And Krasinski's direction is very elegant and even classical in those perameters and style on top of that, with his approach to depicting the daily family life often being very structured and unremarkable, despite the actions, tasks and behaviours being so unusual because of the looming danger their errors will attract, which then still allows an unrelenting tension invisibly hover in the middle of every frame. Also the fact that he shot it on 35mm gives it a warm and lived-in texture that feels gorgeously jarring to the fear and hopelessness that should permeate it.

And I think some people might reduce it to examining it just as a horror movie, and that's fine, but I think like all great horror it really commits to being about something. There's a tangible pulse underneath the dread and by engaging primarily with the emotions of its characters to fuel the drama and your connection to the story's twists and thrills rather than just through sheer shocks and unexpected turns, it manages payoffs and beauty in even the simplest scenes and pleasant compositions.

This is the opposite of a spoiler but if you want to know absolutely nothing about the antagonistic force in this: I know there were online conspiracy theories about this over the last couple of months, but it's weirdly remarkable how much this feels like a better Cloverfield movie than the actual Cloverfield movie we already got this year. It feels like a perfect spiritual sequel to 10 Cloverfield Lane in its control of themes and monster elements with a raw, visceral human element going through different stages of behaviour of survival amongst tragedy and lurking deadly creatures, with ample material to dissect allegories from in between.

Well worth seeing in the most well-behaved theatre you can find. Also maybe half of the movie is entirely free of dialogue, and most of the rest of it where the characters do speak is subtitled ASL (so, yeah, go to a theatre whose audience may scoff at being asked to read) and the rest is carried by visuals, sound effects (both subtle and then jarringly loud), and its (actually very good and memorable!) score. But beyond those worries, it's a very well-made B-movie crowd-pleaser that I'm glad exists in the modern studio climate (likely because it was seen a bankable horror) and hope it does very well.

It's the one movie that can claim to be both extremely lovely and nerve-wrackingly intense concurrently for nearly its entire runtime. And that's kind of an awe-inspiring feat all its own.

***½ / 7.9

[Peng]

Unexpected for me in how the film functions more as an actual story than a series of set-pieces, although it has the latter quite a bit, all handsomely mounted, with superb sound design and different points of view cut for maximum impact. Even then, they are not excessive nor in the showstopping pile-on nature, but instead flow from one to another, like a problem creating another new one to be continuously solved. And almost all of them come in the second half, after a patient first half building this world's rules, establishing geography, and letting us see the story of one family dealing with and trying to live on in this apocalypse, even after unbearable tragedy, when their expressions for shared pain, grief, and love are needed but more difficult in this world to communicate to each other. The first half's events are of different levels of engaging (the "dance" to establish the husband-wife bond, for one, does nothing for me), but they provide a solid, affecting bedrock, both story-wise and thematically, for the later scares and mayhem.

An aside: one guy in theater was about to sneeze loudly during a very tense waiting moment; we all heard his unbelievably big intake of ach- but then he seemed to realize himself and abruptly just cut it off, resulting in some quick, hushed laughter. The film's rules on the characters, which implicitly are imposed on us as well, make for one of my favorite audience reactions in quite a while. 7.5/10

[Watashi]

Critics are like "you have to see this in a quiet and well-behaved theater."

I'm like what theaters do YOU go to?

[Dukefrukem]

Critics are like "you have to see this in a quiet and well-behaved theater."

I'm like what theaters do YOU go to?

I was going to see this tomorrow, but if that's a talking point, then I'll just wait for rental.

[Skitch]

Critics are like "you have to see this in a quiet and well-behaved theater."

I'm like what theaters do YOU go to?

Yeah no shit. My quiet well behaved theater is my home.

[Henry Gale]

Critics are like "you have to see this in a quiet and well-behaved theater."

I'm like what theaters do YOU go to?

Ahaha.. Press screenings, obviously.

And honestly, for my screening (which was a to-capacity mix of public and press), everyone was pretty well-behaved and seemingly overly-conscious about every noise they made, aside from maybe one person right in front of me who I had to shush because they decided to suddenly comment obnoxiously at full volume about how something reminded them of another movie, I think just to remove themselves from the tension of it, though ruining it for everyone within earshot. Also a guy right beside me made a tent in his to check his phone for.. I dunno, the time? The movie is super short, but maybe still too relentless to be uncertain of how much more of it he'd have to deal with.

We also had the most Canadian moment imaginable where I heard a girl scream and then go, "Sorry!" almost within the same breath.

It's entirely unique to the experience of this movie because the premise entirely hinges on the characters not being to make any sound, so you're incredibly conscious of your own movements and behaviour in every moment. It creates a singular type of experience.


I was going to see this tomorrow, but if that's a talking point, then I'll just wait for rental.

It's more of a no-talking point but, still... Go see it.

Anyway, just to give an anecdotal example of my own: Right as the movie began I grabbed a handful of my friend's handful, which he already had remarked he probably should not have put as much of that free butter-flavoured canola oil into. So once I delicately ate each popped kernel to minimize sound, the first few minutes after that I had a napkin to wipe off that buttery residue, and somewhere along the line later in the movie I realized I had been tightly clasping that napkin the entire time since, reducing it to a small distorted clump of its former self.

So maybe bring a stress ball or something? *shrug*

[TGM]

I'll say this, I was pretty concerned about my theater behaving properly, because a group of teenagers came in and were laughing and joking and talking real loud during the trailers. However, as soon as the movie started, the whole theater went silent, and it stayed that way the whole way through, thankfully.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Some character beats didn't hit for me, one felt outright contrived, and I wasn't buck wild on the creature design (it's another riff on Giger's alien, all black and slimy and humanoid and eyeless and composed of pure aggression), but goddamnit the flick is a slick, effective exercise in raw tension. The kind you might remember from the best moments of movies like the similarly post-apoc I Am Legend and the similarly corn-fed Signs. The script's high concept hook keeps you on edge the whole time, and Krasinski's meat-and-potatoes camerawork and style enhance the drama without ever calling needless attention to the craft (and it is very good craftwerk).

Friend I went with said he wished the flick would've been score-less, and I wonder if that's true. At the very least, Beltrami could've reeled it in. You as a viewer want access to every single sound these characters make.

[Winston*]

Critics are like "you have to see this in a quiet and well-behaved theater."

I'm like what theaters do YOU go to?

I pretty much only watch movies in theatres, and almost never have the experiences that people here seem to have every time they go. Cinemas are the best.

I liked this. Cool concept and remains tense and engaging throughout.

Wasn't 100% satisfied with the ending though. Their weakness being the frequency from a hearing aid doesn't really gel with the film earlier establishing that these things have taken over the world.

[Dead & Messed Up]

For people who've seen the flick, quick questions regarding the fire:

1. What did the flames surrounding the camp mean? My friend and I were super confused on that. I thought that meant that his fire was connected to them through a gasline, which is why they light up right after his. He thought that meant they were neighbors signaling safety. But that made no sense to me, because that announced an entire group of characters we never see that have no impact on the narrative. Is there something obvious we're missing?

and the forbidden basement:

Why was Krasinski's father so adamant that his deaf daughter not come downstairs? What was he afraid of her seeing? As far as I could tell, she would see (a) radio stuff, (b) materials on the creatures from old newspapers, and (c) his efforts to fix her hearing aid. But nothing about these come off shocking or verboten to me, least of all (c), since she knows he's working on hearing aids for her (which makes her moment of grief at seeing the evidence of his love slightly nonsensical - oh, he loved me because he made these for me... which I already know because I've seen him offer me fixed ones constantly). Again, is there some crucial detail that I didn't catch?

[TGM]

As for your first question, I thought the same as your friend. It showed that there was still a society out there in hiding, they weren't alone, even though these trying times made it feel that way.

Edit: Also, if they were connected through a gas line, they would've lit up at the end when the kids were trying to light it. The kids were looking for a sign of life out there, which obviously didn't come, as the monsters were fully on the loose at that point, so they were likely in hiding I figured.

As to the second point, yeah, I didn't really see any reason for keeping her away from it, either.

[Dead & Messed Up]

As for your first question, I thought the same as your friend. It showed that there was still a society out there in hiding, they weren't alone, even though these trying times made it feel that way.

Gotcha. That really annoys me, though, it just raises way too many questions about the struggles this family unit's going through and

why on Earth they would choose to do it alone.

[TGM]

Gotcha. That really annoys me, though, it just raises way too many questions about the struggles this family unit's going through and

why on Earth they would choose to do it alone.


They can trust each other to keep quiet? After all, we see what some of their other neighbors do after they've had enough. Can't bring that on the whole family.

In fact, trust may also explain the second question, seeing as she's the one who fucked up and got the youngest killed. He says he doesn't hold it against her, but perhaps he still doesn't fully trust her after that incident.

[Watashi]

I pretty much only watch movies in theatres, and almost never have the experiences that people here seem to have every time they go. Cinemas are the best.

I liked this. Cool concept and remains tense and engaging throughout.


Okay. Not if you have crippling anxiety and any small noise or distraction ruins the experience for you. I don't know how Kiwi audiences behave, but America is the worst. I saw Ready Player One at a matinee with maybe 10 other people in the audience, but one guy close to me was moaning loudly anytime an action scene was happening.

More and more I just wait until I can watch it from home. Theaters aren't the sacred safe havens they used to be. Theater owners are actively trying to push towards people to stream with their ignorance to the theatrical experience.

[Skitch]

More and more I just wait until I can watch it from home. Theaters aren't the sacred safe havens they used to be. Theater owners are actively trying to push towards people to stream with their ignorance to the theatrical experience.

Same. I've been forced to leave and get my money back too many times.

"Well then why are you mad if you got your money back?"

Because I wanted to SEE THE FUCKING MOVIE!!

[Neclord]

So do they fart or not

[Dead & Messed Up]

So do they fart or not

If you really must know:

No farts.

[Neclord]

If you really must know:

No farts.

I'll suspend my disbelief for epic space operas but this is too much

[Dead & Messed Up]

I'll suspend my disbelief for epic space operas but this is too much

There's no way the writers didn't have a conversation about it at some point.

I, like you, would've been a fart booster.

[DavidSeven]

Probably a lot of butt tilting going on in that household.

I thought this was just okay. Too reliant on cheap jump scares. The premise (a great one) carries almost all of the tension. I found the surrounding execution to be mostly functional, and I didn’t think the story added much to the concept. The creature design and scoring were pretty unimaginative, which is felt pretty acutely here since so many other elements of the film are pared down by necessity.

The biggest win for Krasinski, as a director, is that he (mostly) trusted the concept to work and let it play out without too many noticeable hedges. I respect the boldness of that choice, if nothing else.

[Ezee E]

A few good set pieces (almost Spielbergian in a way) doesn't make a good movie.

Krasinski does create a world that you definitely want to know more about, so that in itself is a win. However, the drama within the family, and a considerable amount of jump points can be figured out all in the first half hour. The family drama is also pretty unoriginal, and if you hated the way Signs ended, this one has a similar technique. The alien is also pretty uninteresting, also like Signs.

Emily Blunt is pretty damn good in it though. Her scenes are clearly the best.

My theater was respectable enough. For a 8 PM Saturday showing in a rowdy neighborhood, I expected much worse.

[Ezee E]

As for the questions proposed:

1- Completely felt that was society showing who existed still. There was probably some communication between families, but otherwise left each other alone.

2- Still not quite sure what the deal was with downstairs. Maybe a push of the wrong button could've been disastrous?

My own logic seems like these things could've been easily set up for a trap. No way were these things smart enough to basically wipe out the human race.

[Mal]

This started out ok, until something happened and I immediately had one question that made me think these were the dumbest people on the planet...

HOW ON EARTH ARE YOU HAVING SEX? HOW!!! DO YOU WAIT FOR A THUNDERSTORM? AND WHY THE HELL AREN'T YOU GETTING CONDOMS FROM THE ABANDONED STORE BECAUSE WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU BRING A CHILD INTO THIS WORLD???? BABIES ARE FUCKING LOUD!!!!!!!!

yeah it fell apart for me. and the movie Soft for Digging had a better riff on this kind of concept.

[Dead & Messed Up]

This started out ok, until something happened and I immediately had one question that made me think these were the dumbest people on the planet...

HOW ON EARTH ARE YOU HAVING SEX? HOW!!! DO YOU WAIT FOR A THUNDERSTORM? AND WHY THE HELL AREN'T YOU GETTING CONDOMS FROM THE ABANDONED STORE BECAUSE WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU BRING A CHILD INTO THIS WORLD???? BABIES ARE FUCKING LOUD!!!!!!!!

yeah it fell apart for me. and the movie Soft for Digging had a better riff on this kind of concept.

Regarding point one:

They most likely had sex at the waterfall.

Regarding point two:

Sexual desire would continue. Maybe they did use condoms unsuccessfully. Maybe they intentionally decided it was worth the risk and made their plans for how they would deal with it before they started knocking boots.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I do agree about the jump scares. Too much WHAM.

[Mal]

Regarding point one:

They most likely had sex at the waterfall.

Ouch.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Ouch.

Seems scenic to me.

[TGM]

I do agree about the jump scares. Too much WHAM.

Honestly, there was maybe one early on that had me worried this was gonna be too jump-scare heavy, but I honestly didn't think it was too bad or even obnoxious at all in that regard. Most of the scares came from just the tension and the atmosphere. This was no Woman in Black. :p

[Wryan]

I'm perfectly okay with this movie having jump scares. It's baked into the DNA of the thing. "There are monsters that hunt us by sound and we have to be totally silent and on edge almost every moment." That essentially means any startling moment is going to read as a jump scare from circumstance alone. That said, I enjoyed this for what it is. It's running right along the ground instead of flying through the air, but it knows how to be effective at what it wants to do and achieves it, for the most part. Just about the only thing that didn't quite work for me was the son having a panic attack at the river then becoming Dr. Phil at the waterfall. Blunt gives an incredible physical performance. I liked the creature design just fine (and don't really see a resemblance to Giger's alien, personally; more like a bat monster with withered wings or something).

So very happy this dude behind us decided to fall asleep and start snoring. And really happy the guy right next to me turned to his gf and offered,

"I BET SHE TURNS HER HEARING AID BACK ON AND SAVES EVERYONE."
http://assets.crownpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Screen-shot-2013-08-06-at-9.31.41-AM.png
. Yes, thank you, my man. Now that Hawking is gone we needed someone to fill the void.

Movie was just what I expected and wanted. I was happy.

[Spinal]

It's the kind of movie that is thoroughly engaging while you're watching it, but then becomes highly frustrating once you stop. I spent most of the movie on edge and immersed in the world, so credit where credit is due. The grain silo scene is the high point for me, a nice set piece where a whole lot of things come together and pay off. Great stuff.

Here's what I didn't like:

Krasinski doesn't sell the father's sacrifice and death. It feels cheap, a bald attempt to play on our heartstrings by having the father sign his love as he awaits his death. It would take a better actor to make this not feel utterly shameless.

And so, after feeling disappointment with this moment, the whole father-daughter relationship unraveled and began to feel utterly shallow and manipulative to me. It felt like everything was written simply to have this contrived sentimental death scene. And after that, I realized it started with the very first scene and it kind of bummed me out.

Emily Blunt, not surprisingly, is the highlight and she is used to great effect.

Still, I will never watch this film again because of that god damn nail on the stair. Ugh, so horrible sitting and waiting for the inevitable to happen.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Just about the only thing that didn't quite work for me was the son having a panic attack at the river then becoming Dr. Phil at the waterfall.[spoiler]

That was really laying it on thick.

"But have you told her?"
[barf]

[Ezee E]

So, how long until Krasinski does a Marvel or Star Wars movie?

[Henry Gale]

So, how long until Krasinski does a Marvel or Star Wars movie?

It's funny because I had the same thought, since this would be the perfect sort of calling-card movie to suddenly be the director of something like that (even before it made a ton of money this weekend), but it's a more unusual situation considering Blunt turned down the role Black Widow and was also in contention to play Peggy Carter, and of course Krasinski came very close to being Captain America. All oh so many films ago, but just a handful of years back.

But again, because of the ton of money is has now made, I think Krasinski's world of choices has been upgraded to where I feel like he's more likely to use it as an earned pass to get something riskier that he really wants to get made rather than something a studio already has on the docket to slot him into.

[DavidSeven]

I'm perfectly okay with this movie having jump scares. It's baked into the DNA of the thing. "There are monsters that hunt us by sound and we have to be totally silent and on edge almost every moment." That essentially means any startling moment is going to read as a jump scare from circumstance alone.

I think this is mostly true, though I feel there were some cheap moments tossed in that exploited that setup. The bit with the raccoons. Krasinski nabbing his daughter on the stairwell, timed with an unnecessary WHAM on the soundtrack. Those are just a couple instances that I remember clearly. Overall, I do recall thinking the soundtrack scares were just way too pervasive and relied upon unnecessarily. I can live with startling noises that are part of the "set" and the action. At least that stuff is tethered to the plot and atmosphere. For me, the reliance on the "WHAM" button instead distracted from what the film was actually doing well to organically create tension and scares.

[Morris Schæffer]

If this wins Best picture next year it'll be Michael Bay on stage giving an acceptance speech.

But ok, that's a big if.

[Henry Gale]

The thing is, I could reasonably see it happen somewhere. Like for something like Critics' Choice for Best Sci-Fi/Horror film (where Get Out won this past year, despite The Shape of Water also being nominated, and being that ceremony's eventual Best Picture.)

It's kinda like how Shawn Levy produced Arrival and The Spectacular Now. I'm like, "Okay, your status to get things made is earned." (Also Stranger Things, which I don't exactly love, but he even directed solid episodes of. And Kimmy Schmidt too!)

Perhaps next Neal H. Moritz will produce a prestige, awards season arthouse film! Or even Akiva Goldsman and Joel Silver producing a Nicolas Winding Refn movie! Wait.. that actually almost happened with Logan's Run, didn't it?

[Peng]

His enthusiasm for Krasinski (their Benghazi film probably led to this) and this film is pretty fun though (and funny too (https://www.instagram.com/p/BhSwUSOnLJp/)).

[[ETM]]

Ok, this was pretty dope. I'm not much of a horror fan, and neither is my girlfriend, and the couple we went with even less than us. We all ended up loving it and discussing it for quite a while afterwards. Contrary to some of you, a couple of us came out unconvinced, but discussing the plot points cleared up most of anyone's grievances. I agree on the soundtrack jump scares, though, and I would have loved to have seen at least a short scene on how they still have power, but overall I find that most of the smaller faults are completely forgivable. So glad we went and saw it tonight.

Oh, and our audience was awesome. Only a couple of young idiots who blabbed on a bit, with the rest staying deathly silent for the duration. Even the popcorn munching at the very beginning was incredibly subdued. Even when people were jumping in their seats at the scares, they kind of tried muffling the sounds. It was awesome. :D

[transmogrifier]

63/100

Expertly crafted, with the entire second half just a string of tension-filled set-pieces.... I enjoyed it very much on that score. But, unfortunately, the desire to have the family fight back at the end just ends up undermining the credibility of the entire premise. There is no way in hell someone had not already figured out that weakness already. Those creatures would have been toast within 48 hours of landing.

[[ETM]]

I think it's not just any frequency that they respond to. The hearing aid doesn't do anything for the girl's hearing, but it amplifies the signal boost that the creatures are using. And it only helps if you're point blank, with the creature listening intently so the head plates are open. By then you're pretty much dead.

[Dukefrukem]

Kinda loved this, though I have a billion nit picks on the universe and how one is to survive in said universe. Example: That's great that you have all these little traps and plans and things setup in case of a monster attack, but how did you build all of these things to begin with if your entire life is restricted to a line of sand. Second question: the Military couldn't figure out how to kill these things and it took a basement engineer and a little girl to piece together the puzzle? John Krasinski and Emily Built were still great and that opening scene was tits.

[[ETM]]

Could it be that we're following our heroes in large part because they stumbled across the solution purely by accident? He wasn't fiddling around with that thing to defeat the beasts.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Yeah, this is the paradox of Cruise in War of the Worlds. Why is it that this random man just so happens to witness and escape all these enormous catastrophes by sheer luck? Because if he didn't, we wouldn't be following this story, we'd be following the story of someone who had a similar trajectory that allowed a dynamic story to be told. Some movies weather the paradox better than others.

[Pop Trash]

Yeah, this is the paradox of Cruise in War of the Worlds. Why is it that this random man just so happens to witness and escape all these enormous catastrophes by sheer luck? Because if he didn't, we wouldn't be following this story, we'd be following the story of someone who had a similar trajectory that allowed a dynamic story to be told. Some movies weather the paradox better than others.

It would be interesting to see someone make a Slacker-esque version of these disaster / alien invasion movies where we fully pick-up on another character at the scene when one character dies. This keeps going on over and over for the course of twenty people or so.

[Pop Trash]

Without fully spoiling it, can someone tell me if the ending of this is more, less, or about the same level of stupid as the ending of Shyamalan's Signs?

I'm considering seeing it today.

[Dukefrukem]

Continuity question

How did they even have electricity on the farm?

[StuSmallz]

Continuity question

How did they even have electricity on the farm?I don't remember the film ever explaining that; they had to have had generators somewhere nearby, but with all the incredibly loud noise that would continually create, it would inevitably create problems when living around the monsters. So, it's definitely a bit of a plot hole in the film, but I didn't take note of it while I was in the theater, so it doesn't ruin the overall film for me at all, or anything.

[[ETM]]

They have said in the interviews that the plan was to explain about underground generators, but Krasinski wanted to strip out any and all details which the audience could imagine by themselves, in order to focus on the family.

I can even imagine generators running constantly in a remote location, being almost like the waterfall in terms of noise, and someone refilling them periodically.

[Dead & Messed Up]

It would be interesting to see someone make a Slacker-esque version of these disaster / alien invasion movies where we fully pick-up on another character at the scene when one character dies. This keeps going on over and over for the course of twenty people or so.

I would fully and completely support this idea. This is a very fun idea.

I may have to steal this idea.

[Dukefrukem]

I would fully and completely support this idea. This is a very fun idea.

I may have to steal this idea.

Signs
Cloverfield
10 Cloverfield Lane
Monsters
Troll Hunter
The Mist
The Blob
The Mummy
The Descent
Attack The Block
Sklyline
They live
Mars Attacks
War of the Worlds
The Faculty
The World's End
Battleship
Cowboys & Aliens
The Host
Tremors
Splinter
Slither
The THing
Battle Los Angels
District 9
Oblivion
The Watch
MIB
Arrival
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Dreamcatch
and of course, Alien vs Predator 2

[Dead & Messed Up]

Signs
Cloverfield
10 Cloverfield Lane
Monsters
Troll Hunter
The Mist
The Blob
The Mummy
The Descent
Attack The Block
Sklyline
They live
Mars Attacks
War of the Worlds
The Faculty
The World's End
Battleship
Cowboys & Aliens
The Host
Tremors
Splinter
Slither
The THing
Battle Los Angels
District 9
Oblivion
The Watch
MIB
Arrival
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Dreamcatch
and of course, Alien vs Predator 2

I don't get it. Are you saying those are similar to what Pop Trash is suggesting?

[Dukefrukem]

I don't get it. Are you saying those are similar to what Pop Trash is suggesting?

I'm saying: "get on it!". I did your homework for you.

[Pop Trash]

I may have to steal this idea.

Are you at least going to give me a story credit or something, Carlos Mencia?

[Pop Trash]

WHY IS THERE A SCORE?! AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH. The least necessary score in cinema in my lifetime and probably before my lifetime as well. This had potential to work like gangbusters (and often does when the score / audio drops out) as an exercise in How Sound Works in films, just like how some of Nolan's films (Memento, Inception, Dunkirk) are exercises in How Editing Works, and the masterful IT FOLLOWS is How Framing Works in the sense that it's constantly forcing you to look at the margins of the frame, whether or not anything is going on there.

The only thing I can think of is either a) John Krasinsky doesn't trust his own direction enough to ratchet up tension w/o a score (incorrect) or b) there was studio, executive, or money people intervention to have a score to make the film more "accessible" or "conventional" or some other such nonsense (looking at you Michael Bay).

If Krasinsky wanted to be truly radical, he could have made this a totally silent (like no audio track at all) film from the perspective of the deaf girl, but I totally get why the Hollywood Powers That Be wouldn't let that fly. However, that score needs to go.

That issue aside, the film mostly works for me. It's not exposition heavy enough to warrant lots of plot hole complaints. It basically leaves it up to the viewer to decide how they got to this particular house and their process of learning the silent life. As for having a baby, I found it believable. People have kids all the time that probably shouldn't, plus I imagine birth control is hard to come by, also the emotional reasons why a couple would want to reproduce again following the death of a child.

Performances are on point, especially Emily Blunt and (possible early front runner for best supporting actress?) the deaf-in-real-life Millicent Simmonds. Krasinski is fine too, but was probably too busy directing, so left most of the heavy emotional lifting to the rest of the able cast.

Oh and FIX THAT GODDAMN NAIL ALREADY!

[Dead & Messed Up]

Are you at least going to give me a story credit or something, Carlos Mencia?

Okay, this was all fun and games before.

Don't you ever compare me to Carlos Mencia.

[Gizmo]

I'm on the fence about this. it was well put together, but the more I think about some of the silly things, the more it leaves a stale taste in my mouth. I think this does a good job of encapsulating my thoughts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSKvQBKADJU

[Spinal]

Oh and FIX THAT GODDAMN NAIL ALREADY!

Yes! How could you just leave it there after what happened?!

[Pop Trash]

I'm on the fence about this. it was well put together, but the more I think about some of the silly things, the more it leaves a stale taste in my mouth. I think this does a good job of encapsulating my thoughts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSKvQBKADJU

This guy definitely doesn't have kids.

[Skitch]

Are you at least going to give me a story credit or something, Carlos Mencia?

Thats some hard bitter insult there, son.

[DavidSeven]

Krasinski has said he wasn’t a fan of horror films, and I think that lack of genre understanding does come through in certain choices. The nail thing is one. I appreciate the filmmakers who know when and how to give the audience a small reprieve from the tension in their films. The nail was obviously left unaddressed to add an undercurrent of constant suspense to whatever else was happening in the actual story, but I don’t see the experiential value in making people uncomfortable through something that is so divorced from the plot, story or theme. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Krasinski has said he wasn’t a fan of horror films, and I think that lack of genre understanding does come through in certain choices. The nail thing is one. I appreciate the filmmakers who know when and how to give the audience a small reprieve from the tension in their films. The nail was obviously left unaddressed to add an undercurrent of constant suspense to whatever else was happening in the actual story, but I don’t see the experiential value in making people uncomfortable through something that is so divorced from the plot, story or theme. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

Many moments in the final quarter where I kept thinking someone needs to do something about that fucking nail.

[Ezee E]

Wasn't there only one instance with the nail, and after it was stepped on, we never saw it again?

[Dukefrukem]

Wasn't there only one instance with the nail, and after it was stepped on, we never saw it again?

Yes but there was a scene later, I believe with the daughter walking down the stairs, and it wasn't clear if the nail was dealt with or not. So the possibility of her stepping on the nail too was still unclear.

[Pop Trash]

Wasn't there only one instance with the nail, and after it was stepped on, we never saw it again?

No, you definitely see it again. With a motherfuckin' blood puddle around it, just begging to be fixed, but no, we're just going to keep going up and down those stairs w/o fixing it. There's also a blatant close-up of the nail early on like "GEE I DIDN'T THINK THAT GIANT NAIL WOULD GET STEPPED ON BUT NOW THAT THERE IS A LINGERING CLOSE-UP I SURE DO THINK THAT NAIL IS GOING TO BE A PROBLEM!"

[Spinal]

That will be the title of the spinoff movie from this film: THE NAIL. Just 90 minutes of unsuspecting visitors stepping on the goddamn nail.

[Pop Trash]

That will be the title of the spinoff movie from this film: THE NAIL. Just 90 minutes of unsuspecting visitors stepping on the goddamn nail.

DVD EXTRA ALTERNATE ENDING
In a Shyamalan-esque twist, it's revealed the monsters are allergic to iron and die after stepping on the nail. Blunt's character is hailed a genius for never fixing it.

[Dead & Messed Up]

That will be the title of the spinoff movie from this film: THE NAIL. Just 90 minutes of unsuspecting visitors stepping on the goddamn nail.

And also not stepping on the nail, so we wipe our brow and say, "Phew, I thought they were gonna step on the nail."

The Quiet Place: Nail-Poke-Alypse

[Dukefrukem]

No, you definitely see it again. With a motherfuckin' blood puddle around it, just begging to be fixed, but no, we're just going to keep going up and down those stairs w/o fixing it. There's also a blatant close-up of the nail early on like "GEE I DIDN'T THINK THAT GIANT NAIL WOULD GET STEPPED ON BUT NOW THAT THERE IS A LINGERING CLOSE-UP I SURE DO THINK THAT NAIL IS GOING TO BE A PROBLEM!"

Are you sure? I don't remember that.

[Spinal]

Are you sure? I don't remember that.

It's there, as he described.

[Dukefrukem]

Sequel in the works

[Dead & Messed Up]

Can I just say, I respect the nail. It's an effective bit of low horror where the audience can wince and feel a relatable visceral empathy.

The nail is good. All hail the nail.

It's the post-foot handling of the nail with which I take nail umbrage.

[Gizmo]

Are we all going to switch to nail avatars now?

[transmogrifier]

Are we all going to switch to nail avatars now?

The Nail > Porgs

[[ETM]]

I have to say I kinda like that, as of now, this movie has made more money in the US than Ready Player One.

[Gizmo]

The Nail > Porgs

well, it did more air time in it's respective film.

[Yxklyx]

This was pretty good - but had a few too many jump scares.

[amberlita]

To whoever asked, I think the reason the dad was so adamant that his deaf daughter not go in the cellar was because of the microphone down there. She could’ve made a bunch of noise and broadcast it loudly without realizing it since she’s deaf.

[Dukefrukem]

To whoever asked, I think the reason the dad was so adamant that his deaf daughter not go in the cellar was because of the microphone down there. She could’ve made a bunch of noise and broadcast it loudly without realizing it since she’s deaf.

If this scene you are describing was in Prometheus, MatchCut would have a fit.

[TGM]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmtWHjlrvF8

[Grouchy]

This was a fairly original thriller film and kept me entertained and at the edge of my seat through the duration. I agree it would have been considerably better without music. There's a conservative thematic thread about family running through the movie which irked me a bit because it was a bit out of place, even if I'm not usually bothered by that kind of thing. But it ended on a high note - I was afraid the script would completely crumble on the last third but I even liked the callback to Signs.

[megladon8]

This was good. I was very surprised how much we saw the monsters - kind of had the impression we would never see them. Speaking of the monsters, someone liked Cloverfield apparently.

Shouldn’t have had music (or otherwise, a much MUCH more subdued score).

The ending was silly.

But yeah, tense and well crafted overall.

[Skitch]

It's been said more humorously by people on Twitter, but if my family existed in this world, we would be dead in point 2 seconds.

Me: Corbin, you have to be quiet or monsters will kill us.
Corbin: runs screaming for no reason all dead

[Dukefrukem]

I think this has been said before too, but there's no way you'd be able to build a little farm with all the traps and things without making a noise. Who has a completely silent hammer?

[Skitch]

It was stupid to try to live a silent life. They shouldve been living next to the waterfall. They shouldve dug out staked pit traps with dangling boom boxes...aliens attack, fall in pit. The silence idea is good, but it was way too strong an ability.