The women of A Quiet Place are their own heroes, and I’ve never been so happy to watch horror
Like so many of us, I don’t fare well in horror movies. I’m the person you probably can’t stand in theaters; the person who swears through all the jump scares, and watches tense scenes through her fingers. That’s exactly what happened while watching A Quiet Place (hey, at least I’m consistent), which tells the story of a family living in silence to conceal themselves from deadly creatures who hunt by sound.
And in this movie, the intense experience of being horrified for roughly two hours was *especially* worth it.
Why? A Quiet Place is terrifying, emotional, and inventive, and the women — matriarch Evelyn (Emily Blunt), and daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds) — are *beyond* kickass in the face of life-threatening monsters. And this isn’t to say that the guys in the family — patriarch (Lee John Krasinski), and son Marcus (Noah Jupe) — aren’t, because they’re also extremely brave.
But, the women of A Quiet Place take it to a wholeeeee other level.
It’s a level that I, personally, have rarely seen in horror films. Admittedly, being a scaredy cat, I’m new(ish) to horror; let’s just say I’m not fluent in the genre. But my knowledge aside, the women are undeniably strong and courageous, and exactly the type of people I’d like to surround myself with in an apocalypse — so now, I can’t stop singing their praises.
Now, wait…what’s that? Oh, that’s the sound of MAJOR SPOILERS to come, so STOP RIGHT NOW if you’re trying to remain spoiler-free. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.
(Thanks, John!)
ANYWAY, Let’s start with Evelyn who, along with her family, endures the death of her young child at the claws of the sound-hunting beings. Not long after that, we see that she’s expecting a baby. And not long after that, she encounters trouble when she steps on a nail and makes quite a ruckus, and attracts the attention of the monsters. Oh, and this all happens just after she goes into labor, while in the house by herself.
You read that right, people. EVELYN HAS TO QUIETLY GIVE BIRTH *AMONGST MONSTERS* OR ELSE SHE’LL MEET HER MAKER. And, guess what? She does it successfully. Honestly, I’m afraid of not having caffeine if I become pregnant, so I can’t even imagine the terror of having to conceal the sounds of childbirth, or risk death by monsters. Talk about a strong AF woman.
Not to mention, Evelyn protects her newborn, and older children, multiple times throughout the course of the film, just like she demanded of her husband. “We have to protect them. Promise me.” And that, they both do. But, this can’t be reiterated enough: She protects them WHILE IN MOURNING and RIGHT AFTER GIVING BIRTH.
Like I said, strong AF.
Evelyn’s daughter, too, is a force to be reckoned with. Regan — and the actress behind her — is deaf, and uses her hearing impairment to, ultimately, defeat the monsters. She — on top of evading them on numerous occasions without her parents and, keep in mind, she’s still a kid — discovers that holding her hearing aid up to a microphone and speaker system causes feedback that weakens the lethal foes, allowing them to be killed.
Which is to say, Regan is not only her own hero — she’s *the* hero of the movie.
She saves herself, and her family. And her mother is right there alongside her to, ehem, knock the predator out for good. The men certainly have their heroic moments, too, and that’s great. But to have Evelyn and Regan be the saviors by film’s end — of course, it’s not new to horror to have female heroes, but I would still love to see more of them — is so empowering.
In fact, it’s so empowering that I’m willing (and wanting) to subject myself to the scares all over again, just to experience the badassery of Evelyn and Regan one more time. Make no mistake, that’s saying a lot because this movie is H-E-L-L-A horrifying, and like we established, I scare easily.
A Quiet Place is now in theaters. Watch it, if you dare…
