While curating my “2018 Movies List” I purchased a DVD copy of “A Quiet Place” since I missed it during its run in the theaters – I was hoping to include it in list and I loved it so much – I did!
I didn’t immediately see “Bird Box” when it became available for streaming on Netflix too – this was because I prefer to watch light, stress free films while wrapping Christmas presents.
So I didn’t get to immediately write reviews for both movies and opted to do a comparative piece instead, I haven’t done one yet and its hitting two birds (box) in one.
So off the bat I’m already calling it – John Krasinski’s post apocalyptic thriller wins over the Sandra Bullock film of the same genre and here is why –
Despite a shorter run time at 1 hour and 31 minutes (longer does not always necessarily mean better) “A Quiet Place” is more captivating, I was at the edge of the bed, I dared not make a sound for fear of those monsters claiming me as well.
Okay, I did let out a couple of really loud gasps only because I was so scared for the characters!
There were also tears! Hot tears were stinging my eyes and my heart hurt so much. I really felt that pain that a parent feels, the kind of fear a parent has for their child-a true and genuine horror. That horrible sinking feeling that you get in your gut or that feeling like your heart has been taken out of your chest.
That is why that scene with the noisy airplane (I don’t think I’ve ever hated batteries so much) just crushed me. Crushed every fiber of my being-and this is just a few minutes into the movie!
This is true, probably because I am a mother now and I will definitely go Ellen Ripley on you if anyone or anything tries to hurt my son.
Unfortunately, “Bird Box” failed to draw these emotions from me.
In this day and age when movie monsters are not only feared by viewers but also admired by fans of the horror genre I think that having (literally) “no monster” for ‘Bird Box’ was a missed opportunity.
“Jaws” relied on creating a terryfying experience with the use of music and score, it was able to effectively create a visceral terror that has been able to frighten generations of audiences.
Even if you can’t see the eponymous shark, you know what it looks like and you know that it’s there and that is the stuff of nightmares and Jaws helped create this irrational fear, and which is also probabbly why sharks, to this day, have such a bad image. Thanks Spielberg.
“Bird Box” fails in this because you don’t know what the creature even looks like,
In “A Quiet Place” you know what these creatures that hunt through sound look like and you they are terryfying.
Aside from knowing what you’re up against there’s also that “trigger happy itch” of just wanting to shoot that expletive and shred it to ribbons (something Emily Blunt felt, I’m sure) again pointing out the Ellen Ripley-Aliens analogy, that satisfying feeling that you’re giving this expletives creature a run for their money.
We don’t get that in “Bird Box” there’s no “Take that you—-” moment.
In the following weeks after the release of “Bird Box” they have been able to maintain their popularity, significance and relevance on Social Media through memes (the whole “Bird Box challenge” is something else entirely).
It is interesting to note that these memes also compared the film to “A Quiet Place”.
Now this is definitely a good thing for both films since anything on Social Media is basically free advertisement but then again, every time you put “Bird Box” next to “A Quiet Place” you are reminded how the former is a mere shadow of the latter and not even a scary one at that.