Film
Some months after a catastrophic, global event takes place, and here we get a look into the lives of a family who are now forced to live in silence lest they attract any one of the many creatures, with ultra-sensitive hearing, now causing death and destruction worldwide.
Family members Lee Abbott (John Krasinski – Detroit, Monsters University), Evelyn (Emily Blunt – Sherlock Gnomes, The Girl On The Train), Regan (Millicent Simmonds), Marcus (Noah Jupe – Suburbicon, The Man with the Iron Heart), and Beau (Cade Woodward) have fallen into a routine by the time we meet them, going out to get supplies, and having the farm where they stay strewn with various means to alert them to potential danger, and to assist them in making as little sound as possible.
A Quiet Place, by its very namesake, is a film where sound plays a very important role. There is very little dialogue, yet the sounds from the characters, creatures, and nature serve to not only build the tension in the story, but to inform the viewer of current events, and give a glimpse into the current emotional state of each character. The cast are incredibly talented, and this would be needed to pull of a story where emotion and expression are paramount.
The film’s story is gripping, prompting the viewer to imagine their own reaction in the current situation. Yet, the film’s backstory is a little sparse. We find out small bits of information as the story progressing, but this does lead to a bit of predictability, and many might wonder why the entire situation with these foreboding creatures was not sorted long ago, and instead left to a pretty normal family needing to find ways to avoid or fight them.
A Quite Place is an entertaining horror film, with a good dose of tension, and an entertaining story. Not just a film for horror fans, despite a few short-comings in the story.
Disc
Overall, the disc is of a good technical quality, with an enjoyable main feature. It is, however, scares on bonus features, including just the one short featurette.
A Quiet Place is available now, to purchase on disc, in South Africa.
Video
Video is encoded at a high average bitrate. There are no visible artefacts on-screen. Colours are vibrant, with no visible colour bleed. Detail and contrast are good in the several darker scenes. Fast paced scenes maintain a good amount of detail too.
Viewers with the necessary hardware or software could scale up to a larger or higher resolution screen, should they wish.
Audio
Audio is encoded at a high average bitrate, and with a film such as A Quiet Place that is so scarce on dialogue, audio from the environment plays a rather important role. The little dialogue there is, is clear via the centre speaker. The use of the surround channels, and discrete sounds and panning between channels helps immerse the viewer in the story. A set of full range, high quality speakers is a must to fully enjoy the audio, and appreciate the handful of jump scares one would expect.
Navigation
After choosing the desired menu language, one is taken directly to the main menu, which is a static menu and no accompanying background music. There are text links to play the main feature, audio options, subtitles, special feature, and scene selection.
Audio options takes the viewer to a sub-menu with a text list of four languages to choose from.
The subtitle sub-menu has a list of thirteen languages, or none, to choose from.
The special feature sub-menu has a link for the only bonus feature on the disc.
The scene selection sub-menus each have four large, colour, static thumbnails, for a total of fifteen chapters. There are direct links to the various pages provided on a navigation bar at the bottom of screen. While the thumbnails are numbered, they are not labelled, nor is there a chapter listing included in the disc packaging, so navigation to a specific part of the main feature would require some guesswork.
Bonus Features
Creating The Quiet – Behind the Scenes of A Quiet Place – A look at the film, with interviews by cast and crew, from conception to screen, and how the filmmakers worked to get the setting of the film, and set design, just right, for the movie.
While this featurette is short, it does contain a plethora of interesting facts, that are sure to appeal to both the average viewer and budding filmmakers alike.
Packaging
Packaging is a rather standard DVD Jewell case, with a poster and lead cast listing on the front. The back has a short synopsis, a few stills from the film, and the usual technical information and logos.
There are no package inserts in the case, such as chapter listing, etc.