Spoilers ahead for A Quiet Place.
It's a very good time to be a horror fan. Rather than stale sequels or lame slashers, the genre having a renaissance, with challenging and critically acclaimed installments scaring the crap out of audiences. The Office actor John Krasinski has already cemented his place in the genre's history by directing and starring in A Quiet Place, which hit theaters last weekend. Krasinski crafted an emotional and tense journey throughout the course of the movie, complete with absolutely terrifying monsters. Fans have been wondering where the armored, blind creatures came from, and now Krasinski has explained what we were all thinking: they're aliens from another planet. As he tells it,
They're an evolutionary perfect machine. The idea is, if they grew up on a planet that had no humans and no light, then they don't need eyes, they can only hunt by sound. They also develop a way to protect themselves from everything else -- that's why they're bulletproof. [...] The other idea was it's also the reason why they were able to survive [...] the explosion of their planet and then survive on these meteorites. Until they open themselves up to be vulnerable, they're completely invulnerable.
It looks like the monsters' seemingly unbreakable hide (as well as its lack of eyes) were the result of years of evolution. Their bodies adapted to protect them from the elements, which is likely why Earth's armies weren't able to combat the monsters. Bullets likely would just bounce right off them, explaining how all of the planet fell so quickly.
John Krasinski's comments to Empire help to explain the creatures of A Quiet Place after the fact. One way the thriller succeeds is by not really giving much exposition. We have no idea what the Abbott family was like before the world ended, and there is no explanation for the creatures' presence in the world. It's a capsulated story about family and survival, with a few vague details shared with the audience through Lee's whiteboard. But now that the film is out and acclaimed, the director/actor can share some more of the history behind the modern classic.
The beauty about the aliens in A Quiet Place is that their strengths are also their greatest weakness. The monsters are able to hunt through their keen sense of sound, but it also makes them vulnerable to certain painful tones. Ultimately Regan is able to figure out how to incapacitate and hurt the monsters, with Evelyn delivering the final blow.
Given the acclaim of A Quiet Place, it should be interesting if the story is expanded through a sequel, or if the film is better left alone. We'll just have to wait and see.
A Quiet Place is in theaters now. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
