**Slight spoiler warning**

A common theme has begun to arise within movie genres, and I think we've all picked up on it. Apparently, there is something about a post-apocalyptic environment with unknown creatures lurking in the darkness whose only goal is to wreak havoc on innocent lives that captures our attention. Is it the thrill of thought that these situations may actually occur that draws us in? Or is the government priming us with movies to prepare us for the circumstances of our ultimate demise? Just a theory, but you get the idea.

The consecutive release of films such as A Quiet Place (2018) directed by John Krasinski, and Bird Box (2018) directed by Susanne Bier followed the trend of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic settings within films that has been around for a while now. The thing that sets them apart is their twist–the inability to use one of our means of communication. Characters in A Quiet Place must go without making sound and characters in Bird Box are revoked of their sight. Both films did an excellent job taking advantage of limited sound and sight to implement unique suspense and horror sequences.

I recently watched the film

The Silence (2019) directed by John R. Leonetti on Netflix and recognized distinct similarities between it and A Quiet Place. Both stories developed in a (you guessed it) an apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic setting, one character was deaf, and all main characters were limited to lip reading, whispering, or sign language to communicate. After watching the entirety of both films, I established my feelings towards each and decided to take a look at their Rotten Tomatoes scores­–let's just say one was much lower than the other… So on that note, I thought it would be fun to break down what made A Quiet Place so much better than The Silence after all?

A Quiet Place

Spoiler alert, A Quiet Place was much better than The Silence. With a score of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, this film was a hit with audiences. It was one of the first films that incorporated the element of limited communication, and it was very intriguing and noticeable. This innovative aspect of the storyline not only took away a common part of everyday life (sound), but made it something life threatening. While watching the film for the first time in theaters, I became so immersed that the sound of a candy wrapper being opened or cough of a fellow audience member made me want to scowl at them for putting us in danger. This intense level of immersion is what often makes or breaks a horror/suspense film for viewers. If you feel the urge to check your phone out of disinterest, it's not a good scary movie. If you're not holding your breath out of fear or half covering your eyes bracing for jump scares, it's not a good scary movie. Not to mention, a dreamy hunk of a main character wasn't a bad touch either (John Krasinski if you're reading this, I'm embarrassed).

The Silence

As you have probably assumed, my feelings towards The Silence were not the best, even before seeing the 25% Rotten Tomatoes score. When not being compared to the likes of A Quiet Place, the film itself was decently made. It was intense, emotional, and had me shook the majority of the time, but a couple of inconsistences in the flow of the film threw me off. First, why did the family leave their safe and sound home and travel to the middle of nowhere to seek asylum? Why did the father character have a heart to heart with his son at a gas station mid-apocalyptic chaos escape? Why did they let their dog continue to bark until the sound-attracted pterodactyls started destroying their car? Just hold his mouth closed for Pete's sake! Unnecessary or unrealistic character conversations or actions that are included simply to drive the plot stick out very obviously in horror and suspense films, and take away from the fast-paced element that makes it scary.

To conclude this Movie Matchup, the 'goodness' or 'badness' of a film is extremely subjective and varies from person to person, as it should. When movies with similar plot lines come head-to-head, it is easy to pick a favorite. But in the end, it is interesting to have different perspectives and takes on those plot lines.

Have movies that I should matchup? Let me know!