10 Great Movies Starring The Office Cast

4. A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place Lee
Paramount Pictures

John Krasinski’s ambition sometimes outweighs his ability - his adaptation of Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, for example - but he tapped into something seriously good with A Quiet Place. This inventive monster movie utilises a great gimmick to become one of the finest horrors of recent years and a burgeoning horror franchise for the ages.

The premise is simple but primally effective. Without explanation, our world has been overrun by bloodthirsty beasts with hypersensitive hearing. Krasinski and real-life wife Emily Blunt have adapted as best they can to protect their young family, with a tricked out barn and a strategy for survival, but this dystopian world is swarming with peril.

It’s an incredibly tense film made effective by its simple conceit - if you make a noise, you die. Much of the action takes place in near silence, and the performers rise to the restrictions, with Krasinski, Blunt, and a great young cast conveying fear, determination, and the odd bit of hope wordlessly.

2021 saw a slightly less good sequel, and with horror especially the studios tend to squeeze the concept until it’s dry, but Krasinski has proved himself a smart and hugely creative figure with this gem.

Contributor
Contributor

Yorkshire-based writer of screenplays, essays, and fiction. Big fan of having a laugh. Read more of my stuff @ www.twotownsover.com (if you want!)