The standout in the cast is Millicent Simmonds, who plays the deaf daughter—Simmonds is in fact deaf and her performance has an added layer of honesty on knowing that fact. Simmonds portrayals the daughter with a sense of frustration and anger—she doesn’t forgive herself for letting her family down, as she sees it, earlier on in the film. But, when the time comes, she strikes back against the creatures in a hugely rewarding, heroic fashion.

Blunt’s character has her own obstacle to overcome, too—she’s pregnant. Again, Krasinski as a director knows how to set up these scenarios; we know there’s no good way out of giving birth in a world where the slightest noise is deadly. The payoff is fantastic, in maybe the best sequence in the entire film. From the moment the mother’s water bursts, we’re in for a hell of a thrill ride. Blunt really sells each moment, too, each contraction contorting her silent face.

The sound design is excellent, as well. Very little is actually spoken in the film, leaving large gaps for the sound to just drop from the soundtrack completely, which makes the jump scares mostly earned. And when the sound does come in, it’s decidedly booming and intense, with a worthwhile score from Marco Beltrami.

The film isn’t necessarily trying to reinvent the monster movie, and it does fall into silly B-movie trappings, but it’s all entertaining nonetheless. Krasinski himself might not have been the perfect lead actor, but the natural chemistry he has with real-life wife Blunt brings us closer to his character. Shades of Spielberg even pop up—you can tell Krasinski was influenced by Jurassic Park and even War of the Worlds. And its final moments are destined to go down in the Badass Monster Movie Hall of Fame. Who knows exactly why Krasinski went outside his comfort zone to make A Quiet Place, but we should be thankful he did. He might just be the next genre filmmaker to keep an eye on.