Recommendation: The Quiet Place (2018)

I'm not the only one doing stuff – other people have great stuff, too. That’s why every so often, I'll give a Recommendation of something you should read, see or do. Recommendations like this...

 

I’m known for bad movies, but that doesn’t mean I don’t indulge in a first-run film that has the potential to be good. How else would I be able to tell what makes a bad movie bad?

I had the chance to do just that this past weekend, when I trotted down to Ye Olde Picture House to see A Quiet Place with John Krasinski and Emily Blunt. If you have somehow missed the trailer and all of Krasinski and Blunt’s late night appearances over the past two weeks, the premise goes like this: In the near future, humanity has been hunted down by blind, Toyota-sized creatures. We follow the Abbott family (including IRL married couple Blunt and Krasinski as Mom and Dad – I’m sure Paramount’s publicists swooned at that angle) as they make a life for themselves as quietly as possible.

It’s a cool premise, and I don’t think I’m doing much justice. So here, check out the trailer:

I know, right?

I heartily recommend this movie, and not just because it’s a well-crafted throwback to a time where horror films relied on tension and relatable characters in peril for their thrills or because Emily Blunt is great in it or because John Krasinski (who also directed and has a screenwriting credit) is an underrated talent or because the film features child actors who won’t make you want to stick your head in an oven. All of those things are true, but I have another, more personal, entirely superficial reason to recommend A Quiet Place.

They shot some of it in my town. 

Above: A shot from "A Quiet Place." Below: Our non-apocalyptic Main Street.

Sure, that sequence pulled me out of the experience a bit because I spent the whole time thinking things like, “Hey, there’s the carpet store!” Still, totally worth it.

Word spread around here last summer that they’d be shooting a film in town. Upon hearing that Krasinski was directing and starring, I assumed this would be a small indie film and I think we all had mixed feelings when we learned our rather vibrant thankyouverymuch Main Street was being used for the setting of a post-apocalyptic thriller. 

Production closed down Main Street for a couple days last fall, and I remember the day they did principle shooting as being cold and crappy. I didn’t made it down town to check it out, but apparently half the town did. What I found remarkable was that when shooting was done for the day, John Krasinski spent a good hour and a half talking with all the townsfolk and taking selfies with them. Think about it: As director, Krasinski’s day was not done just because they were done shooting for the day and they’d spent the entire shoot outside on a cold, raw day, and Krasinski still took the time to take selfies with each and every person who showed up to watch. Class act, that.

A Quiet Place is now in theaters.