Directing, writing, producing and starring in your own movie is not something anyone can do. Few even dare to try it. If the film flops then all the blame is on one person. A success will boost the career of whoever can pull it off. The latest filmmaker to to so, John Krasinski, does so in a genre foreign to him and casts his own wife as his costar. If his work didn’t turn out to be scary, at least his workload would be.

Forced to live in complete silence, Krasinski centers the story around a family struggles to protect themselves from deadly creatures that hunt any sound they hear. The smallest creek in the floor or the drop of a pin will put them at risk of being torn to shreds. With most of humanity gone, all that is left for them to do is attempt to survive in a dangerous world without making any noise. To make matters even worse, they have to do all this while raising their young children and expecting another.

The first question for every horror movie review is always the same: is it scary? Yes. A Quiet Place is heart pounding movie from start to finish. The constant fear never settles for a second from the first shot to the last. Every situation the cast gets themselves out of leads to another and another out of that.

What makes this movie special isn’t just the fear factor. This is the horror movie with the best development to come out in recent memory. While most scary movies choose to have cheap actors and jump scares, Krasinski puts himself and his A-list costar and real life wife Emily Blunt in a fast moving story that is more of a character driven story than a monster flick. The core of the story is more about a father trying to protect his family.

Without spoiling anything, the climactic finish might leave some audiences with new questions after leaving the theater. Satisfying at first, it opens up some plot holes in an otherwise solid story. It leaves a bad taste that may ruin the experience for some, but it is not something all audiences will mind.

Also, while seldom, there are some plot devices that were very obviously thrown into the film just for the writers to get from point A to point B. They make them all interesting, but some may notice that sometimes things happen for the sake of a scare and nothing more.

John Krasinski has proven himself to be a legit candidate for the most well rounded persons working in Hollywood today. He now has strong potential to be as big of a name behind the camera as he is in front. While not a perfect movie, A Quiet Place is definitely one to check out.

⅗ stars