In the post-apocalypse, you’d best not scream. It isn’t just A Quiet Place’s 3-word tagline that invokes 1979’s Alien. Both films are excruciatingly tense monster movies; and both are set within unique, thoughtfully-constructed futures. One of the movie’s surprising pleasures is seeing the Swiss Family Robinson-esque devices, tools, and environments the household has built to combat the terrifying forces looming beyond the door. And though there are moments of heavy-handed exposition (you could call this a ‘WEAKNESS?’), it’s truly more of a quibble. See this movie in theaters, and don’t see it alone. But if you order popcorn, be very careful which moments you choose to give it a munch.
This review originally appeared in the Austin School of Film’s recommendations blog, MIX/VHS. Check out the full post here, including reviews of “Frontier Psychologist” and Phantom Thread!