In a post-apocalyptic world, a family tries to survive in absolute silence because monsters with ridiculously sensitive hearing lurk everywhere.
This movie was amazing! It was strange to watch a horror flick where the most tension-filled moments were not when it was completely silent, but when it was loud. This wasn't a completely mute film, though. There were plenty of ambient noises going on. If you pay attention, you realize there's rarely a completely mute moment in the film. Going to see it for the first time, I wondered if it was just going to be a completely silent film, except for a few loud jump scares and I was pleasantly surprised to find it filled with background sounds and hardly any jump scares. Even still, you'd shift uneasily in your chair every time someone stepped on a groaning floor or had to quickly rustle through bushes or tall grass.
This film was also brilliant in its use of sign language. The family communicated with sign language for most of the film (with subtitles for the uninitiated), which explains why they're one of the few survivors of humanity, as their eldest daughter was deaf. So they probably already knew sign language, which helped them communicate effectively for survival.
I also like that the parents (John Krasinski and Emily Blunt) are married in real life, so it was cool to see a real husband-and-wife duo playing the same roles on film. Some of the intense moments between them felt real genuine, probably because the two were imagining what it would be like in real life with each other.
The only complaint I have is with the creatures. No spoilers, but I feel like their weakness would've been easy for someone to figure out long before humanity was decimated by them. Maybe it was just sheer numbers that took humans by surprise. I dunno. But I do enjoy how you slowly piece together what happened to humanity. You're not just exposited upon with narration or a series of flashbacks. You have to pay attention to catch the minor details if you want the full story. But even if you miss the entire backstory, it's not necessary to enjoy the main story. You should definitely check this one out, for a unique take on silent horror.
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