“Who are we if we can’t protect them?” whispers Evelyn Abbott (Emily Blunt) to her husband, Lee (John Krasinski), about their children after a very close call with one of the deadly creatures hunting them in the intense thriller A Quiet Place.

Set in the near future, A Quiet Place focuses on the Abbott family, who are moving in silence while searching for a safe place to live. We quickly learn the world has been invaded by creatures who hunt mankind by sound. The Abbotts have a small advantage in this creepy new world because Regan (Millicent Simmonds) is deaf, so they’ve already learned to communicate using sign language.

After a tragedy (no spoilers here!), the family settles down in a house in the country and tries to live as normal a life as possible. Lee teaches his children about the few times, due to surroundings and nature, that it’s safe to talk and the times when they must be silent. It’s not long before the creatures come hunting and the Abbott family must be completely silent to survive…but can they?!

Directed, produced, co-written by, and starring John Krasinski, A Quiet Place is a gripping, edge-of-your-seat thriller with excellent directing and riveting performances. It’s masterfully crafted and mixes the scenes of suspense and almost unbearable tension with moments of tenderness and family warmth.

Krasinski proves he’s a rising talent as a director, displaying an almost Hitchcock and early Spielberg style of slowly building suspense and carefully inserting jump-out-of-your-seat moments. The last 45 minutes of the film are truly terrifying as the creatures enter the Abbots’ country house and a trapped Evelyn struggles to stay deathly quiet while dealing with an unexpected and urgent issue.

Emily Blunt delivers what might just be her finest performance yet as Evelyn, the strong, loving wife and mother who’s doing everything she can to keep her family safe and reassure her children that their father will always find a way to protect them. The absolute fear and horror Blunt displays as Evelyn discovers she’s alone in the house when one of the creatures has entered and is hunting is truly compelling.

The set design and atmosphere is extremely effective, and the musical score composed by Marco Beltrami (World War Z, Scream, The Hurt Locker) helps give the film’s mostly unseen creatures a real sense of terror and tension.

The sound design and appearance of the creatures are also very impressive (and scary). The lengthy strong legs and the…on second thought, I wouldn’t want to ruin the experience of viewing the creature for the first time. Suffice it to say, they more than live up to expectations. The use of sound with the creatures while they hunt also adds to the sense of dread and builds tension.

A Quiet Place is a first-rate thriller that has genuine scares, superb performances, tight and stylish directing, and is guaranteed to give the audience a frightfully entertaining experience. One of the true must-see films of 2018 has arrived in theaters.

GRADE: B+

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for terror and some bloody images

Running Time: 90 minutes

Release Date: April 6, 2018

• A Quiet Place Part II Review
• Trailer for the Prequel A Quiet Place: Day 1