This could be the scariest quiet movie or the quietest scary movie you will ever see. It’s nearly silent except when it counts. Could this be 2018’s break-out surprise horror hit, as Get Out was last year?
John Krasinski, stars, directs and co-wrote the script with Bryan Woods and Scott Beck who are both credited with the story. As with most successful scripts, the premise is exceedingly simple. A loving family are left to fend for themselves on a remote Upstate New York farm after an alien apocalypse has reduced the human population to near zero. These aliens are blind, but can hear the slightest sound and use it to find their prey with deadly speed and accuracy. No one ever sees these creatures and forget getting a good night’s sleep. Snoring is not an option.
What may have kept this family alive longer is that Dad, Lee (Krasinski) Mom, Evelyn (Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada, Into the Woods) and son, Marcus (Noah Jupe Suburbicon) have had to learn sign language to communicate with their deaf daughter, Regan (Millicent Simmonds Wonderstruck). They have another young son. All of these actors deliver riveting performances. Krasinski says Simmonds, who is deaf, was very helpful with her input on sign language and more. She builds on her role in Wonderstruck as a sensitive, yet angry young girl. When Simmonds and Jupe are together on camera there’s never doubting the devotion of this brother and sister. Especially seen in the terrifying scene where they seek refuge in a corn filled silo.
Emily Blunt is married to John Krasinski and she’s known about this project from its inception, but never really considered acting in it. Then she read the script. That’s when she stopped suggesting other actresses to play the Mom and begged to be cast. Blunt was told by friends that working with her husband could mean trouble, but she valued the experience.
Blunt takes this near silent role and gives amazing depth to the full range of emotions. The one scene that is becoming an instant classic, like the shower scene in Psycho, is when she is about to deliver a baby alone in the bathtub. She’s pregnant and goes into labor, having painful contractions but forced to remain silent as she hears the creature approach. You will writhe in your seat watching her go through each contraction with her aching to scream, knowing that it could only create bloody mayhem. It’s torture for her as well as the audience.
Krasinski explains that this movie, at its core, is a metaphor for family and communication. He wanted to see how far he could take it. He plays the Dad who is the glue that holds the family together. Even though they can’t talk to each other Krasinski finds so many other ways to communicate. Yes, the cast had to learn fundamentals of ASL (American Sign Language), but Krasinski finds he can use all kinds of tools and signals for communication, like colored lights, or even sand. Although this is a chilling and tense, horror story, he directs with a light touch, treating his characters with intelligence, warmth and affection.
Cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen’s shots and editor Christopher Tellefsen’s cuts don’t oversell the terror and the menace of the monstrous aliens. The slow pull backs at different angles and pans up of the family and the farm house are effective. Krasinski says he found the location looking at real estate sites. He shows the family has set it up for maximum security with a hidden compartment.
We never learn much about these invaders or what happened in other places. We get to see newspaper headlines plastered on Lee’s workshop wall about impending doom, but not much else. Apparently before people figured out talking would kill them they were already dead. In many scenes we see just enough of the creepy evil creatures and every sound becomes amplified. Be prepared to jump out of your seats.
For a movie that plays best letting the quiet tension build, the musical score by Marco Beltrami seems to swell too much at the climactic junctures. We wonder if our nerves would have been even more frazzled without those decibels. Maybe it’s too heavy-handed and it might have created even more horror without it. But that’s a minor point when taking in this chilling encounter with blood thirsty aliens.
Krasinski has created a film that is a triumph of love, family and the human spirit finding ways to connect, communicate and survive in the face of blind evil. Just to be safe, we suggest you avoid noisy popcorn or candy wrappers as you watch. The quieter it is, the better you’ll like it. This intense thriller is a good one.
Paramount PG-13 90 Minutes Reviewed April 5 ,2018
