Here’s the thing about the nonsense to follow: I genuinely believeA Quiet Placehas the beefiness to become a classic horror franchise. The first film, a remarkable third directorial effort from formerOfficebumpkinJohn Krasinksi, is an all-timer of a movie theater experience, it’s weaponized sound design (and lack thereof) turning every enthusiastic owner of a crinkly Twizzlers bag into public enemy number one. In myreview of the sequel,A Quiet Place Part II, I called it a “triumph,” because Krasinski and Co. took a premise that needed no follow-up and added an astoundingly satisfying amount of layers. It’s great. It’s all great. However, part of loving film is being obsessed with the minutiae; the set design, costuming, line deliveries, and any of the other one-million-plus decisions that go into making a movie happen. And, sometimes, that means accepting that the minutiae can be very, very funny if you fixate on it to an unhealthy degree. You can be in awe of the originalKing Kong’s influence while also screaming about itsaggressively ill-advised 60-minute-long sequelreleased just nine months later. You can enjoy theSawfranchise while also being haunted by the one timeTobin Bellshowed up wearing a backwards hat. And you can thinkA Quiet Placeis a horror masterwork while also being deeply distracted to this very day by the comically unhelpful expository whiteboard hanging in the background of the Abbott family’s basement.
Here’s the set-up: Earth has been overrun by a vicious race of aliens with super-sensitive hearing, leaving any survivors forced to operate in near-total silence at all times or risk a chompin'. Among those left alive is the Abbotts—Lee (Krasinski), Evelyn (Emily Blunt), and their two children, Regan (Millicent Simmonds) and Marcus (Noah Jupe)—living as close to a tranquil life as possible when you’re in constant, soul-shaking fear of accidentally squeaking a floorboard. Lee, an engineer turned apocalypse survivalist, works diligently down in the basement, mostly to repair a hearing aid for Regan, who is deaf. But, when a new inspiration strikes, Lee must also update this whiteboard that gets funnier the longer you stare at it, for the following reasons, presented in no particular order.
Again, none of this detracts fromA Quiet Placeas a film. If anything, it’s proof of a brutally effective little prop orchestrated perfectly by production designerJeffrey Beecroftand set decoratorHeather Loeffler. Itclearlydraws the eye, and any sane, non-obnoxious mind gets the exact right amount of info from it; some key expository facts about the physicality of the aliens, yeah, but also a non-verbal glimpse into Lee’s mental state. It’s a portrait, drawn in Sharpie, of a guy trying his absolute best for his family while also aggressively Going Through It.
But also, it is very, very funny. The lesson here is that sometimes a film can seem impenetrable, a perfectly armored horror film without fault or flaw, but there’s always a weakness—tiny though it may be—if you take the time to look for it. If only there were some way to remember this lesson? Ah, nevertheless.
KEEP READING:‘A Quiet Place 2’ Review: John Krasinski’s Spielbergian Horror Sequel Silenced My Doubt
