SCREENWASH HORROR REVIEWS: UNSANE (2018) & A QUIET PLACE (2018)

Many of us like to be scared and thrilled and made tense, especially if it is in the darkened recesses of the cinema. Because as the adrenaline and stress levels rise we know, at the back of our minds, we’re safe. Nothing can actually harm us because it’s happening on a screen. Yet witnessing characters in danger of harm or death can be an exhilarating and cathartic experience for many. Indeed, watching films of the horror or thriller genres is subconsciously akin to a near-death experience; as facing the reaper from a position of relative safety is part of the excitement of going to the movies.

I do love a good horror or thriller – I really do! So was really pleased when two decent ones came out at the cinema last week. Thus, here are two reviews for the price of one of Unsane (2018) and A Quiet Place (2018); both with the usual mark out of eleven.

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A QUIET PLACE (2018)

Directed By: John Krasinski

Produced by: Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Brad Fuller

Screenplay by: Bryan Woods/Scott Beck & John Krasinski

Starring: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski

Without hardly any fanfare or major marketing campaign this superior monster film has crept up and, in a similar fashion to Get Out (2017), really got audiences flexing their “word-of-mouth” muscles. In fact, while it doesn’t have the socio-political dimension of Jordan Peele’s Oscar winner, I actually think it’s an even better horror film. Throughout A Quiet Place my heart was literally living in my mouth as my fingers and knuckles clenched and whitened during the whole tense escapade.

The story is quickly and economically established via a brilliant opening scene full of dread and silence. Emily Blunt and John Krasinski’s “every-couple” and their three children are surviving in a post-invasion period where monstrous creatures have wreaked havoc on Earth. Using sound to hunt humans must remain absolutely silent or: NO MORE HUMANS!!  This simple but ingenious premise drives the story and action as the lean and powerful script delivers some incredible moments of horror and suspense. The real-life husband and wife acting team bring a believable humanity to the characters and Blunt especially is phenomenal in her reaction and character work.

Mark: 9.5 out of 11

UNSANE (2018)

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh

Produced by: Joseph Malloch

Written by: Jonathan Bernstein/James Greer

Starring: Claire Foy, Joshua Leonard, Jay Pharoah, Juno Temple

Unlike A Quiet Place this Steven Soderbergh directed thriller focusses on a different kind of monster; that which lives silently in the recesses of the mind. Claire Foy portrays, the unlikely named Sawyer Valentini, a financial analyst who after visiting a psychotherapist finds herself plunged into a horrific ordeal on a psychiatric ward which threatens her sanity.

This is a gripping story which, despite a few plot-holes, raises the tension and drama by making us unsure as to whether Foy’s character is a reliable or unreliable narrator. Soderbergh, who apparently shot much of the film on an IPhone 7, is an expert filmmaker as we feel trapped and claustrophobic during the lead protagonist’s hellish nightmare.

Like his previous film, the brilliant Side Effects (2013), the film also has important points to make about the Healthcare system in the United States, and overall I was drawn in by Foy’s excellent performance. I also liked the fact that she was kind of unlikeable too as the uncertainly whether to believe her paranoiac delusions propelled this fascinating low-budget-B-movie narrative.

Mark: 8 out of 11