A Quiet Place review: John Krasinski's alien thriller is sharp, focused and compelling

A Quiet Place is as taut and gripping as a classic episode of The Twilight Zone and Krasinski wastes no time in plunging us into the heart of the story. It is day 89 of what appears to have been a global catastrophe.

Hostile aliens have landed and roam the planet; their highly developed sense of hearing means they are guided to their human targets by the slightest sound. So in rural America, Evelyn (Emily Blunt), Lee (Krasinski) and their family communicate with sign language and have come to appreciate that silence is golden.

Their lives depend on it. If that premise doesn’t hook you immediately, then nothing will.

We then move to day 472 and an upping of the ante. Evelyn is pregnant and we all know that childbirth and children are not renowned for being quiet. Tension escalates as Evelyn’s due date looms.

A Quiet Place is highly resourceful in the way it stretches a modest budget. There are appearances from the scary aliens and fatalities but the film is all about the human emotions of the situation rather than the hollow spectacle of a blockbuster.

It probably doesn’t pay to examine the logic of A Quiet Place too closely but it is highly effective as an exercise in terror and in how people live with the realisation that one noisy false move could spell disaster.

The sound design is so acute that you’re aware of every breath or heavy tread. Life expectancy for snorers must be modest and a bout of hiccups or an attack of fl atulence could prove lethal.

When a rusty nail is accidentally prised loose from a wooden step you anxiously wait for the moment when someone steps on it. Will a cry of pain be the last sound they ever make?

Krasinski shows a masterful command of pace and framing, drawing out scenes until the suspense becomes unbearable. He also has an eye for casting. Noah Jupe recently appeared in Suburbicon and Wonder and is one of the finest young actors currently working.

His portrayal of son Marcus captures all his fears and naive faith that the family’s solidarity will see them through this ordeal.

A Quiet Place is not flawless but it is sharp, focused and entirely compelling, pitched somewhere between Hitchcock’s The Birds and M Night Shyamalan’s Signs.

Nobody is going to forget John Krasinski after this.