Rejoice, horror fans, because it looks like we have a new classic on our hands. John Krasinski's A Quiet Place has made a serious impression on audiences since its debut over the weekend, and the film's success continues to reinforce the idea that horror is hot right now.
Of course, those of you who have seen A Quiet Place are probably on the hunt for similar horror outings right now. With that in mind (and on the heels of the film's box office success) we have put together a list of horror movies and thrillers that will scratch that particular itch left by Krasinski's terrifying triumph. On that note, let's get started with another beloved horror movie in which sound is the enemy.
Don't Breathe
The main rule of A Quiet Place is incredibly simple: if you make a sound, then you will die. It is easy to understand, and it is also the core premise of the surprise 2016 hit from Evil Dead director Fede Alvarez: Don't Breathe. Focusing its story on a group of burglars who break into the home of a blind man expecting an easy score, the film follows their attempts to escape when they discover that their mark is far more capable (and far scarier) than any of them could've ever imagined. Like A Quiet Place, Don't Breathe offers up the same expert-level sound design, as well as an instantly-iconic villain that navigates and hunts by sound. With a sequel reportedly in the works, this is one you absolutely need to see.
The Descent
Like Don't Breathe and A Quiet Place, Neil Marshall's 2005 horror classic, The Descent, similarly follows a group of survivors trying to stay alive in the face of an enemy that hunts by sound. The difference in this movie? The survivors are trapped underground after a cave collapse during a spelunking expedition. The Descent is one of the most visceral, claustrophobic and downright disturbing horror films ever made, and it has most certainly earned its place in the horror hall of fame. The creature design for the subterranean cave dwellers is damn-near perfect, and the movie's deeper level of psychological manipulation elevates it above some of the more traditional monster movies in recent memory. The Descent plays to many of A Quiet Place's best strengths, and it's a must-watch for modern horror fans.
The Girl With All The Gifts
It's no secret that the zombie genre has become incredibly saturated in recent years, and some have begun to feel disillusioned with the style of horror filmmaking as a whole. That's why a film like The Girl with All the Gifts is so intriguing. Set in a dystopian future in which humanity tries to obtain cures to a zombie epidemic from infected children, the film follows a group of survivors as they attempt to navigate the English countryside and sneak through hordes of infected that go dormant and only respond to sound. The Girl with All the Gifts essentially combines the best DNA of 28 Days Later and A Quiet Place into one terrifying mixture, and it's one of the few zombie movies in recent memory to do something new with the genre.
Attack The Block
A Quiet Place mainly takes place in the American wilderness, with a story focusing on a family trying to survive on a remote farm. That said, 2011's Attack the Block showcased what the genre could do by showing a similar alien invasion set in the confines of urban England. Featuring a cast anchored by a pre-The Force Awakens John Boyega, Attack the Block has become widely regarded as one of the more fun (albeit still incredibly disturbing) creature features of the decade. The creatures don't hunt by sound in the movie, but they stand right alongside the monsters from A Quiet Place in terms of the sheer amount of terror that they can generate in a captive audience. If ravenous beasts are your forte, then this is one you need to check out.
Wait Until Dark
Horror movies often serve as a way to tell us just how much we take our sense for granted. A Quiet Place does so by including a deaf character in a world where sound is the enemy, and Terrence Young's 1967 thriller Wait Until Dark does the same thing by centering its story on a blind woman (Audrey Hepburn) attempting to stay alive when a team of criminals breaks into her home in an attempt to steal a doll full of heroin. Revolutionary for its time (and still incredibly effective to this very day), Wait Until Dark has become widely regarded as one of the most iconic scary movies ever made, regularly making lists ranking the best movies of all time. It has paved the way for some modern classics, including A Quiet Place.
Hush
As if it wasn't bad enough that A Quiet Place's monsters have a keen sense of sound, the situation for the central family is made even more challenging due to the fact that their daughter is deaf. That's a vital story element, and it's quite similar to the narrative of Netflix's Hush, a film about a deaf woman fighting back against a masked killer in her remote home. Both films rely heavily on their protagonist's deafness to put them at a disadvantage against their assailants, and both eventually have the protagonists realize how their perceived handicap can actually help them survive in these life or death scenarios. Hush is one of the most deeply-satisfying home invasion thrillers in recent memory, and the DNA that it shares with A Quiet Place is pretty much impossible to ignore.
Nosferatu
Of course, no discussion of A Quiet Place would be complete without addressing the fact that much of it actually plays like an old-fashioned silent film. The movie operates with little-to-no dialogue for the bulk of its runtime, and if that particular style of horror filmmaking captures your interest, then there are few scary movies from the silent era that work better than Nosferatu. Easily one of the most recognizable and iconic horror films ever made (the imagery of Max Shreck as the titular vampire has become a mainstay of pop culture), Nosferatu's silence plays a huge role in how scary and disturbing it is, thus making it a fantastic choice to double feature with A Quiet Place. Just make sure that you don't watch it alone; it's that unsettling.
Silent House
Though 2011's Silent House doesn't feature any monsters in the traditional sense, it is an incredibly solid (and arguably underrated) thriller that gains much of its strength from a powerhouse lead performance by Elizabeth Olsen. A remake of a Uruguayan film, Silent House follows a young woman attempting to stay alive in her childhood vacation home when a stranger comes to the property to terrorize her. Much of the story follows her attempts to remain quiet and stay out of sight as she navigates the landscape, and the film employs interesting camera tricks in order to fake the look of a single-take story. Silent House flew under the radar when it first debuted back in 2011, but it's definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of tense thrillers.
Jurassic Park
Though John Krasinski reportedly looked to Jaws as a major source of inspiration in his creation of the tension and sense of dread in A Quiet Place, there's also another Steven Spielberg classic that Krasinski borrowed DNA from: Jurassic Park. Both films share a palpable sense of claustrophobia in their most intense sequences, and many of the best scenes on the farm in A Quiet Place feel like they owe considerable credit to the showstopper kitchen sequence from Jurassic Park,_in which the two kids find themselves cornered by a pair of velociraptors. Beyond that, _Jurassic Park is also a PG-13 outing that relies on implied violence and atmosphere to establish its sense of horror, which makes it a near-perfect double feature to watch with the family after A Quiet Place.
Alien
They say that in space, nobody can hear you scream. While that may have made for a badass tagline for Ridley Scott's Alien, reality could not be further from the truth. This is an absolutely terrifying creature feature, and it's pretty much guaranteed to get a few screams out of even the most seasoned horror veteran. Though it takes place on Earth, A Quiet Place clearly takes many cues from Alien, particularly in the way that it uses a less-is-more approach regarding its restraint in showing the monsters. Moreover, both films effectively used sound (and the absence of it) to build tension in the lead-up to an attack. Make no mistake, if you liked A Quiet Place, then there's no excuse not to see the first-ever Xenomorph adventure.
