a quiet place is a mixed bag for me. on one hand, it has one of the most brilliant horror concept to come out of hollywood in a long time. on the other hand, the execution ranges from mediocre to outright bad in some parts. a quiet place is not a terribly bad movie, but it is a massively missed opportunity. i'll try to be as spoiler-free as possible. i'll take about the things i liked. first, i already mentioned my liking of the concept here, and in some ways it is very cleverly displayed in the film. the sets usually keep this rule in mind and there are little details strewn about that are there for viewers that pay attention. also in this same vein, the use of sign language for 90% of the dialogue is pretty refreshing and appreciated. there was one very, very strong 15-minute sequence around the second act of this movie that i enjoyed very much, which is good cause it's a particularly important scene. a shame that quality didn't last beyond it. john krasinski and emily blunt both give solid-yet-nothing-outstanding performances. finally, and this one is minor, but i really liked the use of red in this movie. now, onto the bad. one, all the characters but one are nonexistent. this was my major fear going into the movie, and unfortunately my fears rang true. so, what makes or breaks a horror movie for me are the characters. if i don't care about them, i just don't care about what's happening. the little boy was the only realized character in the film, and as a result the scenes involving him were usually the only ones where the horror worked for me. now, aside from bland boring characters, there's only one thing worse: annoying/unlikable characters. and goddamn the teenage girl was annoying/unlikable. nothing she did made any sense! like, yeah, i get it, she's guilty of stuff i won't spoil but the extent of her guilt makes no sense. and this guilt causes her to do stupid things, horror cliches that are always garbage and uninteresting, no matter what movie. last major gripe with this movie, the sound. yes, the lack of sound was handled very well, but what we do have to hear is really bad. for one, the music was generic stock trash. and when this music is generally all we hear for the whole movie, the amount it detracts from the movie increases. i mean, i'm no filmmaker, but if it were up to me, there would be no music at all. imagine it, a genuinely quiet movie where you can be fully immersed in the film's world alongside the characters. it sure would've been something special to experience for sure. too bad! obviously i don't need to mention the abundant jump scares which always suck ass, almost especially with this movie. having jump scares like that with non-diagetic sound is an extra big fuck-you to the audience with a movie like this that's supposed to be as quiet as possible. i'm sort of glad i watched this movie, but it does not live up to the wonderfully unique concept it had. note: review's over but i just want to mention how this movie was possibly one of the worst theatre experiences i've ever had. there was a group of kids behind me reacting to the movie by talking to screen at normal volume. in front of me there was a mexican dad who at one point in the movie decided to be a fucking comedian and at almost yelling volume, told his wife "i'm being loud? i'm not being loud, you're being loud hehehe". and to top it all of the guy next to me had the creakiest fucking chair i've ever heard and couldn't open his bag of fucking skittles apparently. and i tried to avoid this by going on a fucking tuesday instead of opening weekend! jesus christ, it reminded me why i hate other people. as for if it affected my enjoyment of the film, i don't know. i might have to rewatch in the comfort of my own home.