John Krasinski-directed film cleverly plays with sound (or lack thereof) in terrifying parable of what it means to be a parent

Editor’s note: This review originally published April 6, 2018.

Rarely has a movie used silence as effectively as “A Quiet Place.” It’s nearly deafening in the way it permeates this post-apocalyptic horror movie, drowning out whispers and small moments of normalcy. You almost forget you’re supposed to be hearing anything at all. Until the monsters show up — and then everything gets very, very loud.

“A Quiet Place,” directed by John Krasinski (best known for his role on “The Office”) from a script by Scott Beck, Bryan Woods and Krasinski, says a great deal without saying much at all. It’s about family and parenthood, about responsibility and guilt — and about viscous creatures that will tear you asunder if you so much as cough. You can see why the family at the center of “A Quiet Place” isn’t saying much these days.

A mother (Emily Blunt), father (Krasinski), elder daughter (Millicent Simmonds) and younger son (Noah Jupe) — we’re never given their names — are surviving the horrors of the world on their isolated farm, talking in American Sign Language (the daughter, and actor playing her, are deaf) and walking bare-foot on sand paths. (The brutal consequences for being loud are shown early and set the emotional tenor of the film going forward.) It’s dissonantly idyllic for a time: showing grace before dinner, playing board games. But it only ever takes one loud mistake to remind us why cities and streets are empty, the airwaves are silent and parents are making hard decisions.

With so little being said, much of the film’s weight is carried in its use of silence/sound and the actors’ emotiveness, both of which are fantastic. Marco Beltrami’s score plays like a demented light switch, flipping between haunting nothingness and overwhelming cacophony in an instant. And the quartet of actors each draws you in with the emotions running across their faces, from the abject fear in a father’s eyes to the soft smile of a mother watching her child learn. It’s a perfect case study in why showing is better than telling.

Admittedly, much of the film’s narrative doesn’t make sense. Why do the creatures act the way they do? Why would anyone would ever allow a pregnancy to continue in a world where even normal decibels of sounds, much less a baby’s cries, lead to a violent death? And why does everyone have perfect complexions but filthy hands? (Maybe it’s the healthy farm living.)

But what in another film might have been illusion-shattering just doesn’t distract from the core of “A Quiet Place.” Krasinski keeps up a solid tempo as the film becomes evermore chaotic, never letting us forget the danger that lurks with just wrong sound. It’s an impressive feat, one bolstered by the film’s quick 90-minute runtime.

In the end, “A Quiet Place” proves you don’t need to say anything to get your (terrifying) point across. With a sparse 90-or-so lines of dialogue, mostly in whispers, it’s one of the most effective horror movies in years. With an emotive cast and a brilliant tension with sound, “A Quiet Place” will have you wanting to scream — silently, of course. You wouldn’t dare do it out loud.

Four “Excuse me while I sit here in complete silence now” stars out of five, and a critic’s pick.