A Quiet Place (2018)
April 6, 2018 8:39 PM - Subscribe

A family of four must navigate their lives in silence after mysterious creatures that hunt by sound threaten their survival. If they hear you, they hunt you.
posted by gladly (75 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
spoilers - or whatever
So, am I the only one that had a hard time believing that these creatures should have been killed with a couple of dear riffels and a kitchen timer? It seems like after the first wave of however they got here, no matter how good their hearing is, they would be pretty easy to kill.

Was there some explanation that I missed as to why these creatures were so menacing?
posted by robot rex at 1:34 PM on April 7, 2018 [5 favorites]


I guess I sort of assumed that there were more of them in the beginning. I don't know. I really liked watching a horror movie with protagonists who had plans and were careful. Seeing it in a theater with lots of people gasping and then struggling to be quiet was great too. I loved it.
posted by gladly at 2:33 PM on April 7, 2018 [8 favorites]


robot rex, there was a newspaper article or writing on the whiteboard (I forget which) in the basement that said the creatures had armor of some sort. The frequency sound from the hearing aid seemed to open this protective shell over their head exposing a weak spot, which made it easier to kill them.

This is a film that needs to be seen on the big screen. Even in a packed house, the audience will discover within the first few minutes that talking or making noise will not be tolerated in this near silent film. It's a cinematic experience like no other. John Krasinski and everyone involved should be proud of A Quiet Place.
posted by guiseroom at 3:27 PM on April 7, 2018 [5 favorites]


It was very unsettling being in a room full of people being so quiet - and staying quiet. There might have been a few jumps but so little noise. Nobody in the cinema wanted to be attacked.

Really wonderful little horror film. Nice to see the genre can be something other than torture porn.
posted by crossoverman at 8:03 PM on April 7, 2018 [5 favorites]


Seconding how odd it was to be in such a quiet, quiet theater.

I also had trouble figuring out why they couldn't:
1) set up an amplified white noise machine and have it going all the time, or at least some of the time (or just live in a tent next to the waterfall)
2) Use explosives in sets of two - one to attract the critter, one just a bit later to destroy it. This could be done at a safe distance from humans, with a camera to record explosions and make sure it works.
3) Get birth control at the pharmacy (yes, I know, not everyone can use it and it's not bulletproof but ...)
4) How the hell does no one ever have a coughing/sneezing fit? There's goldenrod everywhere, so there's probably ragweed too

Complaints aside, it was really well-done and I loved the relationships and all the planning/smarts.
posted by bunderful at 8:31 PM on April 7, 2018 [8 favorites]


I don't know that the premise or plot would withstand a ton of poking, but I liked it way more than I expected to.

Also, I spent the entire rest of the movie waiting for somebody else to step on that nail. No shade on Emily Blunt's character for not pausing to take it out while bleeding, in labor, and fighting for her life, and I guess everyone after could just step around the visible pool of blood, but I winced every time somebody walked down the stairs. I winced for the monsters.

[and shoutout to the lady in the seat behind me, who it sounded like spent the entire movie rolling around inside her giant bag of popcorn]
posted by jameaterblues at 9:46 PM on April 7, 2018 [13 favorites]




bunderful: my hubs kept saying "wind chimes on a bomb, people!"
posted by St. Peepsburg at 11:56 PM on April 7, 2018 [8 favorites]


My $.02 is the best way to keep the baby quiet would have been in a sling on Evelyn's chest where it could nurse at will.
posted by brujita at 9:37 AM on April 8, 2018 [2 favorites]


This was definitely an immersive experience, after the first bit when dawned on everyone that the silence wasn't just for the first scene, the whole theatre hushed and people made a point to eat quietly.

One part of the plot I just could not get past was why she was pregnant, it was wildly irresponsible. This was like a giant ad for family planning, there are lots of options from birth control pills to condoms to just abstinence and the only thing bringing a baby into this world accomplishes is putting your other children in mortal danger. I mean honestly, just because you want to have a baby doesn't mean you should have a baby.

The second part was the existence of the waterfall. If that place exists why on earth do you not live next to it? Suddenly knocking shit over and causing a mild ruckus isn't a life and death experience. I would take the perpetual dampness over the comforts of home any day.

Overall, though, I quite liked this, I think they managed the suspense beautifully.
posted by selenized at 4:39 PM on April 8, 2018 [8 favorites]


I got the impression that the family was fairly religious which could explain why they didn't use birth control.
posted by guiseroom at 7:41 PM on April 8, 2018 [1 favorite]


Just came back from watching it.**

I went because I usually really like Emily Blunt, and it was a much better movie than what I had been led to believe from the trailer. The whole crowd was as silent as can be, and it seemed like everyone - including me - could SEE the way it was leaning with the nail. The anticipating of it was almost worse than the actual stepping on it.

I felt like they took the premise seriously and followed it all along. I like when movies (and books, etc.) set up rules and then follow them. Even if the rules are silly, it gives some sense of heft to the story.

I think there was no way to live next to the waterfall, it was super craggy and rocky right there. And living by the river sounds doable and like a good idea, but how would you build a shelter there? They were obviously living on the farm they were living on before the monsters came, in existing structures. They had tools, electricity, and everything else there. What would you do? Live in tents? It's not like you could build another house by the river. Large noises would still have brought the monsters, so I think their best bet was still the choice they made.

The pregnancy, though? Yea, not really seeing the wisdom of that. But there are explanations for that too. Failed birth control for one, the religious objection guiseroom mentioned, and possibly deep psychological need to replace their lost son...

I really ended up liking it a lot. The ending - with the turning up to 11 and the cocked shotgun - was badass. Loved that they ended it there, it was perfect.

**Take two, the first one was interrupted by an actual fire alarm in the theater, RIGHT after the lantern spill, and everyone was very confused. We ended up with vouchers, as they couldn't let us into the theater again. Turned out OK - take two was in a Dolby Atmos theater, and it was WAY better with better sound (weird as that sounds) and the subwoofer in the seats. Highly recommend seeing it that way.
posted by gemmy at 8:29 PM on April 8, 2018 [3 favorites]


I can't believe she was that mobile right after giving birth that was just ridonk
posted by St. Peepsburg at 11:07 PM on April 9, 2018


seems like after the first wave of however they got here

One of the early newspaper appearances mentions a meteorite.

Re: the snarky review linked above, I didn't think the movie took itself too seriously at all, even as it delivered serious manufactured thrills and threats. Like, how do you criticize a genre that's all about manufactured fear for taking itself too seriously?
posted by mediareport at 4:56 AM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]


Fantastic, sleek little film, btw. Amazing how much bullshit you cut out of a horror movie when you don't allow your characters to talk.
posted by mediareport at 4:58 AM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]


Every. Single. Second. Of non-diegetic sound in this film was a terrible choice that turned it from an all right movie into an at best mediocre one.

Who the HELL thought it would be a good idea to give a movie about silence a SOUNDTRACK?
posted by kyrademon at 2:42 PM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]


As long as we're being pedantic, I was thinking about the people printing the papers with headlines like THEY ATTACK NOISE. Printing presses make a lot of noise.
posted by RobotHero at 7:57 PM on April 11, 2018 [9 favorites]


Press operators heroically keeping the presses running as they get picked off one by one. "The people must know the truth!" they whisper to one another.
posted by RobotHero at 9:29 AM on April 12, 2018 [12 favorites]


Stage actors were the first to go because they kept stage whispering instead of actually whispering so the monsters heard them just fine.
posted by tobascodagama at 11:15 AM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]


Honestly, my family would have been:

"Shh. Everybody. We need to stay quiet."

"WHAT?"

"SHE SAID WE NEED TO STAY QUIET!"

"WHY DO WE NEED TO STAY QUIET?"

"BECAUSE OF THE MONSTERS!"

"Guys --"

"WHAT MONSTERS?"

"YOU REMEMBER! IN THE PAPERS! THE MONSTERS IN THE PAPERS!"

"Guys!"

"OH, THOSE MONSTERS! WHAT ABOUT THEM?"

"THEY LIKE IT QUIET!"

"WHY DO THEY -- ARRRRRRRRRGH!"
posted by kyrademon at 12:37 PM on April 12, 2018 [8 favorites]


Saw it this evening - yeah, there's not much which holds up under logical scrutiny (four words: remote trigger car alarm) but it works in the moment. When a guy to my right opened up his twizzlers or whatver I thought "sweet, the monsters will get him and not me." I'm happy to overlook the real-world implications and accept this as allegory, except...

One thing I still don't understand (spoilers) : why doesn't the dad (and the mom? not clear) want the older daughter to go into the cellar? There's a very clear scene in the middle where he stops her from going down the stairs. Then at the end she is down there and she sees: the video cameras and the whiteboard full of "ideas" and the hearing aids he's been working on? He didn't want her to know he was working on hearing aids? The emotion makes sense (dad really cares for you etc.) but there's no logic to it. Did anyone get why the dad doesn't want her to see what is going on down there?
posted by five toed sloth at 12:00 AM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]


Did anyone get why the dad doesn't want her to see what is going on down there?

My only thought was that it was the only place with the noise making gizmos (stereo, radio, all those TVs) and he flat out didn't trust her. Especially after the incident with the noise making space shuttle toy (she didn't notice it was making noise until everyone turned to look back).

But yeah, in theatre it made no sense, it felt like it was supposed to be some big build-up to a dramatic reveal (a dead relative? a dead alien? mom and dad's secret sound proof sex dungeon (because seriously))
posted by selenized at 9:23 AM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]


Did anyone get why the dad doesn't want her to see what is going on down there?

I took it as not wanting her to see how hard he was laboring to get her a working hearing-aid, in order not to get her hopes up. That seems like a Dad thing to do. But the idea of there being so many noise-makers in that room, and her not being able to tell if they were making noise, is possible too. (Just accidentally pulling out the headset cord for the radio, for example.)
posted by gemmy at 9:42 AM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


Liked the film and found the first half very tense. My main thought was “poor M Night Shayamalan. This is the film he’s been trying to make since The Sixth Sense.” It actually reminded me a great deal of Signs. Hokey Americana setting, grieving family, alien threat out in the cornfield, ludicrous deus ex machina weapon at the end (“really... it never rained? On a farm?” Vs “really... they never tried sonic weapons on an enemy that’s incredibly sensitive to sound?”).

We found it gripping, despite the plot being full of holes (we were onboard with “why not make a trap with a noisemaker and a bomb”; “why not nurse the baby”; “woah, that would be hard to do immediately after giving birth” and “why don’t they just live by the waterfall”, all of which I see have been covered already in the thread, plus a few others like “why haven’t they made more effort to soundproof their house”, “why do they need so many lightbulbs”, “where does the electricity come from for the lightbulbs when they use candles and lanterns for everything else & also generators are insanely noisy”, “how do they harvest the corn”, etc) - so pretty impressive suspension of disbelief, which is a mark of good, economical directing.
posted by chappell, ambrose at 11:57 AM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]


Also this film provoked the most conversations about strategy with friends (“but what would you do in that situation?”) since It Follows - so, good concept that people evidently bought into.
posted by chappell, ambrose at 12:02 PM on April 13, 2018


I like how the basement whiteboard and newspaper clippings etc... are basically FPS enviromental lore dumps.

Particularly liked "WEAKNESS: ?????"

Turns out the answer was shotguns.
posted by Artw at 2:32 PM on April 13, 2018 [10 favorites]


Which is kind of funny because shotguns are the second-hardest gun to effectively suppress (i.e., silence).

This is the one case in all of firearms history where a pistol-calibre carbine was probably the right solution to a problem.
posted by tobascodagama at 3:15 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


Not if you can’t rack them dramatically for the final shot.

(Which is something I liked immensely, but boy is this movie a weird mix off trying-to-be-artsy and total brainless cheese)
posted by Artw at 3:35 PM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]


How the hell does no one ever have a coughing/sneezing fit? There's goldenrod everywhere, so there's probably ragweed too

I think those people get eaten first. Natural selection by audio-vorous aliens takes out everyone with allergies.
posted by LizBoBiz at 4:41 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]


I would have to live by the waterfall so I'm not killed in my sleep the first time I snore.
posted by RobotHero at 6:38 PM on April 13, 2018 [11 favorites]


It’ll be all about desperate searches for generator fuel to keep the CPAP machines going for snorers.
posted by Artw at 10:51 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]


I walked out of it thinking Meh, but then I realized that the whole film was about how literally any other member of the family was better at protecting the family than Dad. The real monster... was patriarchy.
posted by Etrigan at 3:59 PM on April 15, 2018 [12 favorites]


Somebody brought a real baby to my screening, thereby reaffirming my practice of waiting until the home release to see 99.9% of all films.
posted by longdaysjourney at 4:21 PM on April 15, 2018 [3 favorites]


I got the impression that the family was fairly religious which could explain why they didn't use birth control.

I think if religion was the reason, then we would have seen a bit more of that more explicitly. I don't even remember seeing them pray at all.

I think it's just that sometimes shit happens, and I doubt there was easy access to abortion. Probably a little bit to replace the kid that died too, but who knows.

I really do like the lack of explanation in the film. We don't see why they're on the farm. We don't see how the community works (the other farms that light up at night too). We don't meet any neighbors. We don't know anything except for the parts we are explicitly shown and the lack of exposition was really nice considering how many movies feel that really need to explain everything.
posted by LizBoBiz at 1:58 AM on April 16, 2018 [4 favorites]


I don't even remember seeing them pray at all.

They did join hands around the table prior to eating a meal, but I agree that's not enough to establish any particular religious beliefs they may have.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 10:33 AM on April 16, 2018


Between them praying and the dad insisting on the boy going to learn how to fish/trap/etc. but definitely not letting the girl come along, I took it to mean they were pretty conservative. Which might explain why mom was having a baby, because EVEN THEN there can be no abortions/birth control/etc.

Also because keeping the human race alive, etc.
posted by nushustu at 9:06 PM on April 17, 2018 [3 favorites]


Wow I read that scene totally different. I thought the girl couldn't come along because she usually does and it was the boy's turn. But I don't know what gave me that impression.
posted by LizBoBiz at 11:45 PM on April 17, 2018 [2 favorites]


Best line.
posted by Artw at 6:52 AM on April 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


So many fridge-logic problems in retrospect, but oh my GOD was I wrapped up in it while watching. I really enjoyed it, and I'm willing to forgive it for the plot holes because it seemed to really set up the rules of the world and then run with them.

I figured one of the reasons the dad wanted to take the son was to talk with him and let him make some noise. I had assumed that the girl usually did it but it was time for the boy to learn, too. Also, fish seem a good staple food since the aliens won't be killing them for walking loudly in the forest. (scratch one raccoon!)

I liked the old guy, facing the loss of what I assume was his wife, just yelling to end it all. And the uncertainty of "is the baby okay or is the alien already snacking on it" got me all tensed up. It's not clear to my why they suddenly had a flood in their house, though?
posted by rmd1023 at 7:00 PM on April 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


Some kind of water storage this beasty messed up whilst freaking out?
posted by Artw at 7:11 PM on April 18, 2018


I loved it. Also thought that the beast had smashed through the piping which caused the flood.

My only gripe was when they were having the heart-to-heart in the soundproof basement about protecting their kids, and I'm like, "GO NOW YOUR KIDS ARE OUTSIDE WITH THE DAMN MONSTERS AND YOU LITERALLY TOLD ONE OF THEM TO SET OFF A ROCKET SOUND TO ATTRACT THE MONSTERS." Stop talking and just gooooooooo
posted by knownassociate at 11:32 AM on April 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


Where does the electricity come from for the lightbulbs?

They had a few solar panels on the barn roof.

Re the flood, I thought it was because she’d been washing clothes in a utility sink and left it unattended when her water broke.

The drowning in the corn scene was pretty terrifying too.
posted by carmicha at 6:54 PM on April 19, 2018


I thought the daughter had figured out that feedback drives the monsters away (it happened twice, once on the path through the corn and in the silo itself) before the rendezvous with the father. There was no reason for him to self-sacrifice. And she’s going to feel bad about that in the future.
posted by carmicha at 6:57 PM on April 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


I also wondered how they planted all that corn quietly, and why, especially since there wasn't any market for it, as evidenced by the full silo. They seem to have some pact with the neighbors based on the signal fires, but no one was helping or trading. Maybe the corn fields were so they could spot the monsters pushing through it towards the house.

Just in case it's not clear, I loved this movie. I agree with whoever said they like movies where people are resourceful and sci fi where there's one simple premise and everything flows logically from that.
posted by carmicha at 8:26 PM on April 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


I thought she didn't use the feedback thing because the device had malfunctioned - the battery died or something. I thought I remembered her trying to use it and it failing.
posted by bunderful at 9:24 PM on April 19, 2018


Does she even know it happened at that point? They have her looking away or distracted the first few times it happens.
posted by Artw at 9:36 PM on April 19, 2018 [4 favorites]


I kind of just assumed the corn was already in the silo when the monsters came. Although because of that scene I have not only learned that grain entrapment is a real thing, but also am in a heated debate on whether or not grain has to be "flowing" for someone to truly become entraped.

Anyway, the thing that bugged me the most was the single mattress being used to cover the entrance to their otherwise soundproofed room. I am extremely skeptical that a mattress would be sufficient for them to actually talk out loud in normal voices. Still totally loved the movie though.
posted by triggerfinger at 7:56 PM on April 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


They’re working on a sequel.
posted by Etrigan at 5:39 AM on April 28, 2018


Oh is it going to be Emily Blunt’s transition to an alien killing machine
posted by LizBoBiz at 4:28 PM on April 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


Yes, please!
posted by rmd1023 at 3:47 AM on April 29, 2018


I thought she didn't use the feedback thing because the device had malfunctioned - the battery died or something. I thought I remembered her trying to use it and it failing.

When she's in the truck, she turns it off. That's why the creature continues to attack. She turns it back on in the basement when she realizes the sound it emits is not just painful to her, but also to the creature.

Between them praying and the dad insisting on the boy going to learn how to fish/trap/etc. but definitely not letting the girl come along

I thought it was more about him being afraid for his daughter outside the farm because she's deaf; he wants to make sure at least his hearing son learns how to go out and fish. I also wondered why she wasn't allowed in the basement, but I guess I can buy the potential noisy equipment or he didn't want to scare the kids?

In the absence of dialogue, I liked how expressive their faces were! The look on the boy's face when he holds his baby brother was so beautiful. I thought the sound design was good, but also felt it was buried by the heavy handed soundtrack. The impending danger double bass sometimes covered up what was the very scary noise of the creature approaching.

Lettuce wraps have a purpose besides low carb! Fun movie.
posted by bluefly at 5:12 PM on May 5, 2018 [2 favorites]


Suddenly living in a town where they can run the tornado sirens 24/7 has benefits. Just bring some hearing protection and a gun.

I'm hoping a sequel will be a crossover with Mars Attacks and they Slim Whitman them all to death.
posted by rewil at 9:54 PM on May 5, 2018 [3 favorites]


Also, who in the name of Kevin McCallister was responsible for the carpentry of those stairs during the before times? "Let's just run a nail up through the middle of this step and fold it over instead of cutting it off, that won't come back to haunt anyone during a Rube Goldberg nightmare day at some point in the future."

Such a weird mix of suspenseful and dumb. Ah, well, I was entertained.
posted by rewil at 10:33 PM on May 5, 2018 [2 favorites]


Although because of that scene I have not only learned that grain entrapment is a real thing, but also am in a heated debate on whether or not grain has to be "flowing" for someone to truly become entraped.

I'm pretty sure it has to be flowing. Corn struck me as a terrible choice, because it has to be the loudest grain to harvest and shuck.

It has an aesthetic, though, and makes for fields where big monsters and people can pretty much hide.
posted by graventy at 12:16 PM on May 14, 2018


Apparently it's possible when it's not flowing, but less common. From a page on Flowing Grain Entrapment:
3. Collapse of Horizontal Crusted Grain Surfaces: A thin layer of crusted, spoiled grain can conceal voids beneath the surface. A victim who breaks through this crust is quickly covered as an avalanche of grain collapses into the cavity.
This page calls it bridged grain entrapment.
posted by Lexica at 2:14 PM on May 14, 2018


I was super entertained by this, thought it was tense as hell, really enjoyed myself, and didn't find it difficult to accept the premises at face value rather than engage in a lot of "well but what about _____?" nitpicking, which I guess I'm a lot more likely to do when I am not entertained by a movie (cf. with It Follows, which I am apparently one of like 9 people in the world to dislike).
posted by MoonOrb at 3:42 PM on May 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


Really, I accept it's about setting up the scenario where you've got to stay quiet and imagining having to deal with that.

The closest analogy I have is Darkness Falls, where you have to stay in the light.
posted by RobotHero at 8:11 AM on May 30, 2018


I just realized that Tremors is "don't touch the ground."
posted by RobotHero at 8:48 AM on June 4, 2018 [2 favorites]


I like a good creature feature, and this was indeed a good one. It did suffer from the issues others have mentioned, the characters made some incomprehensible decisions, but it was crafted well enough that it didn't bring me out of the movie too much. It's notable how they shot violence as sudden, brutal, and for the most part obscured. They packed a lot of it into a PG-13 film. Except for that one poor raccoon (I'm surprised there would be any land creatures left in this world), it was not that gory.

I would have liked the solar panels called out more overtly, many people did not catch that they were on the farm's roof in one of the shots, myself included. Also I think the focus on the nail could have paid off if the monster had stepped on it when descending the stairs, and the nail had simply bent under its foot, to further illustrate their invulnerability.

Lastly it would have answered a lot if the dad and son had, instead of running into a man in the process of burying his wife(?), come across the aftermath of such an attack where the monster had just killed her, and the man had a gun trained on it. They beg him not to shoot, but he does, and the monster is killed but another attacks and the sequence plays out from there. Thus illustrating the need for the feedback squeal to stun them.

The bit with the grain silo though. Man oh man that was the most terrifying part.

All in all, it's was a very entertaining and tense film. It seemed to really be about parental angst about how to keep your kids alive/raise them well when they can be rebellious, scared, or just plain thoughtless. While there were clearly other survivors, for all we know, the kids we see in the movie could be the last ones alive in the world.
posted by subocoyne at 10:45 AM on June 5, 2018 [4 favorites]


A family of five four five four must navigate

FTFY.

I finally got around to seeing this today and thought it tremendously atmospheric and willing to let the audience fill in some of the blanks, which goes a loooooooong way to papering over the cracks. As with Signs (which I remain in the minority on in liking, for much the same reasons I like this), it trafficked more in dread and anxiety than in jump scares and gore. I can think of no other movie I have seen recently where the presence of a single nail weighed so heavily on the audience's mind.

The presence of bonfires on the horizon was a nice suggestion that a few others were surviving and while they could not feasibly communicate or even safely locate one another, that at least there were not the last people on Earth. That said, I thought it curious that the old couple was never so much as hinted at until they become plot devices

I thought, as some others did above, about the "windchimes on a bomb" approach, but figured J. Random Farmer might not know how to build an explosive safely, or maybe back on Day 27 the people across the road did this to deal with the one predator nearby, and the noise brought the three we are dealing with, whereupon the windchimes people got massacred.

And those of you who saw it with an audience trying to be quiet? I envy you all. There were six people in my second-run theatre today: me, a couple about four rows ahead of me, and the last-minute arrivals of three teenaged girls who sat directly behind me and conferred on what they thought was going on, how sad it was that the little boy died, what is that white stuff they are walking on, where are their shoes, how come they all know sign language, and so forth. At about the twenty-minute mark I turned around and rumbled "Are you going to keep talking?" The most defiant one muttered "maybe?" but I think the two friends were more conscious of their noise: after a couple more sotto voce comments from "maybe" girl and no responses from her companions, they were quiet for the rest of the movie.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:05 PM on June 10, 2018


Argh — I just realized that before the kids fall into the corn silo at the end, there are no distant bonfires visible.

Well, that is darker than I realized.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:01 PM on June 10, 2018 [2 favorites]


Suspension of disbelief is imperative for this one, yeah. I really liked it a lot.

The part that irked me the most (so many parts to choose from...) was at the very end when the daughter, who had never been in the computer room before, knew exactly where the mike was, and also where the exact dial was to turn up the volume on it.
posted by the webmistress at 7:50 PM on July 14, 2018


Kind of an intriguing idea but I knew things were going to be bad as soon as it showed that the sand trail extended all the way through the forest lol. I loved later on when they showed Jim shaking out a single bag of sand; yep that'll do er.

I kept waiting for it to have another part or another aspect; meeting another survivor (in a meaningful way), another family, another anything, but everything resolved to peril after peril, just gobbling up the entire movie; and each peril was pretty stupid. The family drama was about an inch deep.

The monster design was serviceable. I lost a bet because I expected someone would sacrifice themselves by singing defiantly, but when the time came it was just a holler.

I think the focus on the nail could have paid off if the monster had stepped on it when descending the stairs, and the nail had simply bent under its foot, to further illustrate their invulnerability.

This is a good example of how the film is just kind of bad. Sometimes nitpicks are nitpicks; sometimes the story is just poorly thought out and not told well.

Overall I feel like it just doesn't have a spark of cleverness to it, and I wouldn't say it was worth watching.
posted by fleacircus at 8:01 PM on July 14, 2018 [2 favorites]


It's possible the daughter had been in the basement before, and was found playing "Enter Sandman" at 11 before being caught and uncle Joe eaten in the process. Would have liked the beast to take on a wolverine and think twice, and I feel like a raccoon would have heard it coming.
posted by Brocktoon at 9:01 PM on July 14, 2018 [2 favorites]


Need a movie from the raccon POV, Not Even a Chitter
posted by fleacircus at 9:25 PM on July 14, 2018 [4 favorites]


I enjoyed this as an example of post apocalypse survival even though it doesn't really hold up to scrutiny.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 6:33 AM on July 15, 2018


I'm not sure I'd say, "If you liked this you'll like ___" fits but Into the Forest and The Wall are two movies I've seen recently-ish that I didn't totally love but were interesting examples of the "boy, this apocalypse sure is inconveniencing my life" subgenre.
posted by fleacircus at 3:58 PM on July 16, 2018 [1 favorite]


SRL made a jet engine-powered whistle! I wonder if it would attract the monsters or make their heads explode.
posted by Pronoiac at 10:23 PM on August 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


My wife and I finally found time to watch this last night. I’m surprised nobody here has mentioned the similarities between these aliens and the Stranger Things monster, what with the eyeless head that opens in bizzare ways and the electrical interference that flickers nearby lights.
posted by jon1270 at 4:20 AM on September 10, 2018


Just watched this - who says being sick doesn't have its upsides? (Me. No upsides) I enjoyed it okay as a bit of horror/thriller but I similarly was bothered by a few quibbles.

A lot of times I can shrug off dumb things people do in these situations because we have never seen them be anything but kinda dumb. They don't think to do X? Well, presumably they don't know how, or maybe even that it's possible.

In this case, however, we have a family that has managed to set up this huuuuuuge light field and whatever infrastructure needed to power it, yet the go-to noise contraption is... rockets? Which someone has to go run off and fire? By hand? With a lighter?

I just can't see why that first example of ingenuity doesn't translate into thinking maybe you put a siren at the end of 2000 feet of extension cord so you can turn it on from the house. I'd be willing to write you a pass on the wireless trigger - despite getting the whole ham setup going and scavenging boards to twiddle your amplifier - if you showed at least that much initiative. Maybe you don't want to use them to herd/misdirect the things because you don't want to encourage them to hang out near you, but as an alternative to the rockets? Yeah, I'm not letting that one go.

I similarly can forgive these folks for not making efforts at finding ways to kill the things. Again, you don't want to lure them in general. And setting off explosives to kill them doesn't seem like a good way to avoid attracting all the ones within hundreds of miles. If I just want to keep my family alive I'm not interested in killing them at the cost of just bringing in more replacements.

The muffled crate for baby, though? We're renovating our house and our kiddo, from month 6 through 14, has been sleeping in a full sized crib in a walk-in closet. I still find myself on the edge of anxious about "does he have enough fresh air???" so the idea that I'm gonna trust that O2 tank doesn't run out when I'm not looking? I feel like I'd have been working a lot harder on making an outer soundproof room. And while maybe it's easier to source lightbulbs and things than dynamat, I feel like there must have been a source somewhere for foam rubber.
posted by phearlez at 11:38 AM on October 25, 2018


I thought this was a good tense scary flick, despite the various plausibility holes.

While I tend to like films that don't drown you in exposition and backstory, in this case I think Krasinski and the other writers maybe went a little too far the other way, precisely because of the potential plausibility problems. To wit, that first scene where the youngest gets killed is on day 89, less than 3 months in, and clearly everyone in the town is dead, society has collapsed, and it happened quickly enough that the store shelves are mostly still full. And the main story happens not much more than a year after that. I think a lot of holes in the story get smaller if you're starting from the basic premise of "They didn't have time." The answer to "Why didn't they (family or humanity) move to the waterfall/set up sound-baited traps/build "sonic barriers"/build a better soundproof room/etc etc etc" is that the first 90 days (probably less) were just chaos and death, out of nowhere and without warning. A tiny handful of people managed to implement the basic survival strategy, and then had to slowly and very very quietly build on that with the resources at hand. The farm lights were already strung, solar panels were up, corn was harvested and in the silo, the stockpile of home-preserved food already in the basement when the invasion came. But Krasinski spent so little time & effort making clear the speed at which the aliens showed up and society collapsed that I think people either missed it or it just didn't sink in, so a lot of room was opened up for "what, why, how" speculation.

(Not that everything is perfectly explained under the "no time to prepare" conditions - there's no way that trail of sand gets built the miles to town and all around in 90 days - and it's never clear why they don't spend a lot more time in the basement; there's a "Get Underground" headline in one of the papers on the desk. They even seem to be sleeping in their normal bedrooms? And the layout of the farm and how they move around isn't really clear to me - there are two basements, one in the house, one in the barn? The one in the barn is the "soundproof" baby room? I feel like the flick could have had a better grounding in where people physically are in the farm and in relationship to each other.)

I also think Krasinski's character didn't let his daughter in the radio room because being deaf she would not know if she accidentally fooled with something that made noise and called the beasts. But I think he also recognized that she was the stronger of the two kids, which is part of the reason he took the boy to the waterfall - he wanted to teach his constantly terrified son that the monsters were not omnipotent, that there were situations where they could be fooled and defeated.
posted by soundguy99 at 7:23 AM on February 14, 2019 [3 favorites]


This one was definitely suspenseful, and had a great creative premise, but the plot holes/logical inconsistencies annoyed me.
posted by orange swan at 8:03 PM on April 3, 2019


Finally got around to seeing this and thoroughly enjoyed, obvious plot holes be damned. It's a great conversation peace and has encouraged my nerd circle to game out how they'd act in similar situations.

The best part of the film was how it doesn't explicitly explain things. From the opening "Day 89" to final cocking of gun, there's glorious string of similar incidents, where people clearly have lives outside of what we're shown and it gives them a bit more life. Loved that!

(whisper)Ok, ok, the new born baby subplot almost pulled me completely out of the movie. Like WTF writers?! (/whisper)
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:58 PM on July 5, 2021 [1 favorite]


I just finished this and overall really enjoyed it despite the holes as discussed. I will add that the opening scene nearly took me out of it and it remained paused there for quite a while.

This family is obviously keenly aware of what's going on, it's 90 days in. The tiny boy wants a noisy toy. Dad takes it away, THEN TURNS HIS BACK AND WALKS OUT. My family was not being hunted by anything, and when my youngest was required to leave behind something he wanted, I would be sure to watch him walk away without it. Also, he takes out the batteries and then SETS THEM ON THE COUNTER NEXT TO THE BOY? Put those things in your pocket, Dad. Moreover, when walking home the tiny boy is AT THE BACK OF THE LINE ALL BY HIMSELF?

Glad I went back, but that was an OH COME ON moment for me.
posted by chazlarson at 2:36 PM on October 5, 2021


Their world had effectively ended. Parenting mistakes would be common, even in life or death situations.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:24 PM on October 5, 2021


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