A Quiet Place (2018)

Directed by John Krasinski

Written by Bryan Woods, Scott Beck

Run Time: 90 minutes

In a Nutshell

Family with deaf kid tip-toe around so they don’t get eaten by slimy monsters.

Wrap Up

The Abbott family have survived over a year after a mysterious monster-apocalypse has wiped out humanity.

Fortunately for them, the landscape and nearby city are undamaged and conveniently full of food and medicines.

Unfortunately for them, humans are no longer at the top of the food chain and the aforementioned monsters now infest the world with their super sense of hearing. Yes, even the tiniest scuffing of feet on the floor brings a pack of them swarming in to tear the careless person to pieces.

Despite this stifling, silent existence, the Abbott family has an advantage: their youngest child is deaf, thus they all know sign language and can communicate while out scavenging without making a sound.

Boo!

Having survived for more than a year, the Abbotts have developed some interesting survival techniques to minimize sound. For example, they all walk barefoot on sandy paths that they have made by hand. (Wow, that seems like a lot of work) They have also marked all the squeaky boards in their house so they can avoid stepping on them when they walk across the floor. (Question: Why not just live someplace with a concrete floor? More on this later…) Food comes from a nearby fishing stream and, I guess, scavenging in town? Unclear, but no matter.

The big hitch in the relative serenity of their quiet life is that mom, Evelyn, is 9 months pregnant. Uh-oh. Not smart…and you can guess what happens when she unexpectedly goes into labor while everybody is out hunting for food and what not. Yes, a yell of pain brings the Ear Monsters swarming in but somehow she manages to avoid them (while giving birth!) by hiding in the shower until Dad gets back.

Anyhoo, Dad Heroically Sacrifices© himself to save his family…but I´m kinda thinking that it wasn’t totally necessary…see the movie and judge for yourself. Meanwhile, Mom and the kids discover that they can use little Regan’s hearing aide to generate super high-pitched sounds to kill the monsters when amplified over the family’s loudspeaker system. (Why on earth would you have a bunch of loudspeakers set up around the house when monsters are attracted to sound?!)…so maybe there’s hope for humanity after all. Too bad they didn’t find this out before dad got killed, eh?

Hall of Nit-Picky Questions

First, before I get too nitty-picky, I want to point out that this was a fun movie if you can manage to get over some huge plot holes and just enjoy the ride.

Now, that I’ve cleared my conscious:

Why live in an old creaky house? Not only that, but why not try soundproofing at least one room so that you could talk to each other and, you know, sink your shoulders a little bit. Not to mention having a place for Evelyn to give birth! Better yet…live on a boat!

Where does the house get the electricity from? Solar? No way. Yes, it may sound nit-picky, but they have it pretty darn cozy in that house with all the lights, electrical appliances, ham radios, cameras, warm water, etc. Where’s the generator? Wouldn’t the monsters be drawn to its noises and tear it up?

OK, the monsters are attracted to sound. Fine. Cool. But it’s easy to see in the scenes with the creatures that they must be totally blind and have no sense of smell since they couldn’t even detect Evelyn laying bloody in a glass shower cabinet. Given that the Abbotts must be aware of this weakness, why not build some traps? You don’t need to make a lot of noise in order to sharpen a bunch of sticks, fasten them to a wall and lure these blind monsters into the spikes with some sort of audible bait.

Speaking of sound, the father takes his son on a fishing expedition and demonstrates how the sound of a waterfall masks their voices from the monster’s hearing. So couldn’t you just play loud white noise over the house’s exterior loud speakers to give cover to any accidental sounds that might be made?

Oh, and before I forget: WHAT IS IT WITH THAT STUPID NAIL?! (Is it unfair to mention this and then leave it at that? Maybe it will motivate you to see the movie and comment. I know, I’m a bastard, but it is on Netflix…)

Dennis Grisbeck (Sept 2018)