2017 may have been a big year for reinventing horror thanks to the likes of Get Out and IT, but it sounds like John Krasinski went back to the roots of the genre for A Quiet Place.
Only in recent memory, horror has taken a big leap with unique premises like Lights Out, Hush, and Don't Breathe, and A Quiet Place tackles more sensory scares. Krasinski and Emily Blunt battle some mysterious forces in an apocalyptic world where no one can make a sound for a movie that is already tipped to make big waves in horror circles this year. However, look hard enough and A Quiet Place apparently has a strong influence from Steven Spielberg's classic Jaws.
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Speaking to Cinema Blend, producer Andrew Form revealed how the seminal shark film can be found in the subtext of A Quiet Place, and where Krasinski was particularly influenced by Spielberg's underwater creature feature:
"Creatively, John was always talking about Jaws. From the first conversation we've ever had about the movie, he was referencing that film. We've all learned that, Brad and I have worked on a lot of these genre films, the less you show the scarier. We really talked about when do you show the creature? How much here or there? That scene in the cornfield with Reagan, the daughter, that scene could've been two minutes longer with the two of them. It was really talked about, how much to show."
Even though Jaws has aged incredibly well over the years, the Great White is much scarier when it is out of sight. Although the monsters appear at certain points in A Quiet Place, the movie puts an emphasis on the build-up rather than the big reveal. Withholding monsters from view is nothing new for horror movies; the likes of Ridley Scott's Alien was easily scarier before audiences first laid eyes on the Xenomorph. Form also used H.R. Giger's titular aliens as an example of how it is hard to shock the modern horror fan who has seen it all before, when interviewed by Cinema Blend.
Ultimately, everyone has their own opinions of what they find scary, so as soon as the terror is revealed, there will always be someone who is disappointed. Jaws became iconic for the use of John Williams' music and withholding the shark during that first kill scene. Given the slow-building tension of A Quiet Place, there are plenty of other ways that Jaws has made its mark on the movie. With both horror films using music as an way to hype up their scares, it is easier than you might think to spot how Jaws has influenced Krasinski's work.
As with so many modern horror movies, it is nice to see that Krasinski is learning from the greats while also attempting to modernize the genre for the 21st Century. Even all these decades later, Jaws continues to be one of the most important horror movies in all of cinematic history - and if A Quiet Place can capture even a sprinkle of Spielberg's magic, then it will be a surefire success for Krasinski.
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Source: Cinema Blend
