- Nate Lemann
ALIEN HORROR SUMMER - NO. 6: A QUIET PLACE (2018) MOVIE REVIEW
The first entry in what is looking like the newest prestige horror franchise expertly created a new world and set of rules that immediately draw the audience in, but the movie is wisely more concerned with character-driven drama and emotional arcs getting paid off.
by Nate Lemann
Welcome to the world of this century’s new signature Alien Horror franchise: Scott Beck and Bryan Woods conception of an alien invasion by demonic alpha predators who can’t see but have exceptionally sensitive hearing abilities is such a thematically rich premise and lends itself to a world-building playground for them and, director and star, John Krasinski to craft unique and very tactile thrillers around. That said, as rich as the world-building is, what has stood out the most about the now three entrants to this franchise thus far is the deep emotionally and character-driven thematic arcs that always find a way to pack a hell of a punch in the climaxes of these exceptional films.
We start off the franchise about a year after some unnamed incident has turned a small upstate New York village into an effective ghost town (said incident is vividly depicted in the breathless 12-min opener in "Part Two"). We follow as the Abbott family are scavenging at a local grocery store/pharmacy: father Lee (Karsinski), mother Evelyn (real life-spouse Emily Blunt in some meta casting), teenaged deaf daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds), nervy son Marcus (Noah Jupe), and precious toddler Beau (Cade Woodard). This silent opening scene very effectively sets up the family dynamics, with both parents extremely warm and caring, while at the same time raising kids who can fend for themselves in the now, even harsher world. We also get some early glimpses how careful they need to be to not make a sound, with a particularly tense sequence as little Beau innocently wants to show off his new rocket ship toy (one that makes little sounds). This opening also introduces us to the film’s sixth and maybe most important star: the sound design. Every creak, crack, or pop has the effect of a huge explosion in any other movie. I recall vividly being able to hear other audience members chewing on popcorn when seeing this for the first time in theaters.
Following a heartbreaking tragedy that will utterly rip you to shreds (I still pray for things to go better each time I rewatch that scene), we fast forward a year. The family is still close and warm but something is just off with everyone. Blunt’s character is now very pregnant (one of the worst decisions in horror history, if you ask me) and the family is getting ready for all the complications that new member will bring with it into this very quiet world. There is also insane amount of tension between Lee and Regan: Regan has been blaming herself for that aforementioned tragedy and her father may have at times seem curt with her. In reality, this young girl is projecting her own self-hatred onto her loving father, who has never stopped loving her and gets so believably insulted when others suggest he has (some beautifully, well-acted scenes from Krasinski).
When one fateful day the boys go hunting and the Regan goes on her own spiritual quest, Evelyn has the shock of her life as her water breaks weeks early. What transpires is a very believed series of events that lead into some powerfully emotional scenes. To say that Blunt may now have the most harrowing birth scene in cinema history is an understatement. The urge to scream is beyond terrifying, especially as a Death Angel (the name of the audibly sensitive aliens) stalks around the house. Blunt is so fantastic in this, using micro-actions to tell us a lot about her character and relationships to her family. It is really an unheralded performance by her.
The kids will just floor you in this. You see how their parents are both enamored and in awe of their children. Simmonds carries the most emotional burden. Not only does she blame herself for the tragedy from the beginning but she is also looking at a real possibility her father will never be able to fix her cochlear implant, doomed to have to try to live in sound sensitive world without a sense of it. She plays her heartbreak with yearning intensity and anger. Jupe is used so well in this, Karsinski recognizing the great special effect of this child actor is in how his eyes tell so much without a single line of dialogue. Woodward has this optimism and innocence that is so infectious to witness and makes you really invested in his survival, representing an outlook that this world has clearly lost.
I am stunned at Krasinski’s acting in this. He is both a very stern parent but also a very loving and caring man. His scene with Jupe at the waterfall destroys me in its simple elegance and beauty of parental bonding. He has other moments in this during moments of great tension where we follow him down some of the most scarring discoveries a human can be put through. When I tell you I was concerned he was about to go off the deep end multiple times, that means he knows how as an actor and director to sell tragedy in a very earned way.
He and Blunt obviously have an insane level of chemistry but their show stopping scene is when she wants to engage in her guilt about their tragedy and he really doesn’t want to meet her there. The push-and-pull between them will tear your heart to sunders, Blunt really giving a performance that is almost too hard to bear witness to in its raw vulnerability.
While this movie is just astoundingly tight, it does perfectly build to one of the most powerful emotional climaxes I can recall in quite some time (one of the top ten movies scenes of this century, easily). Karsinski gets primal in a way that is both visceral and emotionally devastating. This movie is thematically about parental grief and responsibility asking the question what are you as a parent if you can’t protect your children. Karsinski nails that payoff through both acting and directing, with a score that perfectly underscores the emotional beat of the scene. As someone who recently dealt with a loss of a loved one, it makes you really question your perceptions of perceived slights in your family and the futility of building a narrative to transpose one’s guilt onto others. Life is too short to hold onto emotional baggage. Sometimes the hardest thing we can do is to let go and try to see the world more objectively because we don’t how long we will get to put things right. Lee finds a way to do that for his daughter and it will wreck the living hell out of you.
While I think the following two entries in the franchise are maybe more technically impressive films, this first entry has a wrecking ball of emotional vulnerability that the other two cannot match. Most films definitely can’t.
FINAL RATING: 4.5/5 Stars (Inventive new horror universe built on a bedrock of earned emotion)
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