10 Apocalypse Horror Movies That Don't Involve Zombies

Similarly to Bird Box, A Quiet Place takes our innate human fear of being deprived of our senses and uses it to upsetting effect. In a post-apocalypse wherein this time the monsters are blind, the characters are forced to move through the world in absolute silence to avoid altering their hunters’ extremely sensitive hearing.

Portrayed by husband-wife duo John Krasinski and Emily Blunt, the couple and their children have managed to survive longer than most thanks to their deaf daughter Regan, as the family had already learned to communicate with each other via sign language. This concept leads to a largely near-silent film, and some of the best sound design found within the horror genre, as it is not only masterfully executed, deploying rare noise to literally devastating effect, but ties in directly with the narrative plot.

Beyond the monsters themselves, A Quiet Place provides plenty of horror through the way in which the characters must live, forcing them to use extraordinary willpower to remain silent during events such as being impaled with a nail and literally giving birth. The film is also one of few to put a deaf character (and excellent deaf actress Millicent Simmonds) at the forefront, and to make the disability a strength within the film, rather than something that ensures an early death. Hurray for weaving genuine diversity representation into the narrative, and making one of the best horror movies in recent years while you're at it!