A Quiet Place

It’s a couple years from now and the Earth has been infested with a swarm of blind, butt-ugly, lightning-quick monsters that hunt prey with their super-sensitive hearing – clearly all Trump’s fault. Amidst a scattering of remote survivors (indicated by nighttime fire signals), a farm family that never snores treads barefoot on trails of poured sand, communicating via sign language, which isn’t a problem for them since they already have a hearing-impaired daughter (played by 15-year-old deaf actress Millicent Simmonds). After losing their youngest son to a creature attack, common sense compels mom and dad to procreate yet again, popping out a crying, screaming baby they have to sequester in a wooden box. Suffice to say, the whole “tense silence punctuated by unexpected loud noise” scary movie gimmick gets plenty of use in this John Krasinski flick. The premise has its holes, but the hushed dread over whether the next wooden staircase step will creak is effective to the point that a dropped soda cup in the row behind you will jolt you out of your seat (though the protruding nail was way too obvious). It plays like an above-average Shyamalan film, specifically Signs.

[PG-13]