Expect to be mesmerised: Rashid Irani reviews A Quiet Place

A genuinely shuddersome horror-thriller, A Quiet Place establishes actor-turned-director John Krasinski as one of the leading new exponents of the genre.

To begin with, the concept is a winner. And Krasinski, who also co-wrote the screenplay, sustains a sense of foreboding right through.

He and real-life wife Emily Blunt play the parents of two at an eerily deserted farmstead. The family is always barefoot and communicates only in sign language. You wonder why, and gradually discover it’s a ruse to evade monstrous creatures drawn to their prey by sound.

The film’s acoustic design, augmented by the spare use of music, is chillingly effective. The nerve shredding suspense-over-jump scares approach is striking too.

The entire cast is convincing, with the young Millicent Simmonds a standout as the hearing-impaired daughter still haunted by the death of her younger brother.

For sheer cinematic ingenuity, A Quiet Place merits comparison with Alfred Hitchcock, who would probably have enjoyed this deeply disturbing film.