Blu Ray movie review: A Quiet Place

Shhh, be quiet! If you make a sound, you die!

Imagine yourself in a world where to survive is to remaining silent. If you cough, you die. If you cry, you die. And if you accidentally step on something sharp, then better bite down you lips than let out a moan lest you die.

Such a world would be a very quiet place.

Why should you stay silent? Because there are these monsters, you see, they are blind predators but they can hear very well, and the human flesh just happens to be their favorite snack. Unless you have a death wish, then you better stay quiet.

Very, very quiet.

That, is the premise for A Quiet Place, a science fiction horror movie which came out earlier this year. I missed the cinematic run, but I had the chance to watch this movie on blu ray. And? A Quiet Place is currently, my favorite movie of 2018. This movie is unique, it is intense, and it had me glued to my seat for 90 minutes. Most importantly, this movie deeply moved me, and it did so with only 2 or 3 lines of dialogue.

"Moving and emotional", are you kidding Daniel? You are talking about a horror movie, mate! Well, just because a story belongs to the horror genre doesn't mean it cannot be meaningful and emotional. I mean, Charles Dickens'  A Christmas Carol is a ghost story, yet at its core is a story about the redemption of one man. So I say, A Quiet Place is similar; it is a survival horror story, but at its core lies a story about a family dealing with grief, and it is also about the parents' worst fear.

A Quiet Place is set in a post apocalyptic world, where monsters are lurking in the shadows, hunting humans for food. The world in this movie is desolate, cities are abandoned with little but ghostly traces of people who used to live there. The movie did not explain the monsters' origin, they are just the fabric in the reality. These monsters are blind, but they hunt with their superb hearing abilities. The story focused on a family, a couple with their three children. To survive, this family adapted their daily life to minimize the sounds they make. For example, they do no speak but use sign language, and they carefully marked down the house's floorboards, so when they walk the floors won't creak, so on and so forth. Living in such a world took a heavy toll on them, as the family was dealing with the grief that came from losses and tragedies.

I have never seen a movie like A Quiet Place. In today's cinematic world where most blockbusters are either superhero movies or franchise sequels, A Quiet Place stands out as a beacon of originality. Finally, Hollywood is giving us something new. Everything in this movie, from the productions, the story, the characters, to the sound engineering, is excellent.

The run time for this movie is only 90 minutes, but it is perhaps the most intense cinematic experience I ever had. There was so much suspense in this movie, and it walked on a fine line between thriller and horror. I don't usually feel edgy or scared when I watch this type of movie, but when I was watching A Quiet Place, I held my breaths and sat at the edge of the couch, the whole time. I felt a real sense of danger for the characters. I feared for them. This is when I can tell a movie is good.

The characterizations in A Quiet Place are masterfully done. This is a character-driven story, with only 4 major characters in the film. For a story about a family, it portrayed the dynamics of their relationships vividly and realistically. For example, the husband had a relationship to his wife that was different to how he related to his son, but it was also different to how he related to his daughter, and vice versa. Meanwhile, this family was constantly in life and death situations, where they were communicating their innermost emotions for each other, in the sign language. What would that be like if it was you? Making sounds is fundamental to how we express ourselves. Not only do we speak, but we also make a range of different sounds, from screaming, crying, to slamming the door, to communicate how we feel, both physically and emotionally. But how will we adapt to a world where our survival depends on remaining silent? How will living in such a world change our humanity? This movie explored these themes in the context of a family drama, with the backdrop in elevated horror, and it is very powerful.

A Quiet Place comes very close to being a silent film, yet its sound engineering was a feat, a great achievement. Most of the movie took place in silence, but during the action scenes, the sound effects added suspense to the atmosphere. Meanwhile, the family drama played out with the beautiful, but harrowing soundtracks in the background. When people watch horror movies they usually yell and scream and laugh, but not for this movie. When people watch A Quiet Place, they will become so immersed in the atmosphere and the story, such that they won't make a sound.

I love A Quiet Place, but it is not a perfect movie. A few things in this movie required too much suspension of disbelief. However, one should keep in mind this is a fictitious story, and with any fictions you can pick out flaws in logic and rationality. Why? Because it is harder to weave perfect lies than telling rough facts, so to speak. This also means, one misses the point of fictions by thinking too much about the rational and logical consistency of a fictitious story. Therefore, I usually measure the quality of a fictional story, not by how logical or rational it is, but by its underlying meanings. A Quiet Place, when viewed from this angle, is a beautifully told story. This movie delivered great entertainments, but it was also an emotionally satisfying experience.

I watched this movie on blu ray (1080p), and the video quality of this disc is demo material. The pictures are sharp and clear, where the colors and the special effects looked natural instead of artificial. Meanwhile, this disc shines in the audio department. From the sound of the whistling wind, to the roars of the monsters, the disc's audio offered an unforgettable cinematic experience. The special features on this disc is somewhat lacking, however, but it still contained enough materials to satisfy those who wish to know more about the movie's makings. 

If you can only watch a few horror movies this year, then shortlist A Quiet Place. This is one of the best in 2018, and it is currently my favorite movie of the year. This movie is an instant horror classic. It is very re-watchable, and I think it is worthwhile adding the blu ray to your collection. This blu ray disc excelled in visuals and audio, it is the kind of disc to show off your home theatre system. Really, it is that good! If you haven't seen A Quiet Place, then grab some popcorns, relax on your couch, then sit back and enjoy this film. But remember to stay quiet. Yes, stay very, very quiet. You never know, what monsters can hear you while they are lurking in the dark! Shhh....