I have never in my life been in a quieter theater than I was today. As it happened, I had a bit of a cold–nothing serious, or even very bothersome, but I had to blow my nose occasionally. I felt guilty every time, like I was endangering everyone. Behind me, a woman had a bit of a cough. Every cough sounded like a cannon going off, and I flinched every time. No candy wrapper rustlings, no shifting in your seat. Not in that house. We were silent.

There are essentially four characters in A Quiet Place–Mom and Dad, daughter and son. Emily Blunt and John Krasinski play the parents, and Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe, the kids. They’re all extraordinary, especially Simmonds, who is hearing-impaired in real life, as well as her character in the movie. In the credits, they were called the Abbots, but I don’t recall any names spoken aloud, and it didn’t matter. We do sense, though, that the daughter’s deafness is a plus, has given them a leg up on survival. They’ve all had to learn ASL. Dad’s a farmer, and they have perfected silence, as a routine and as a matter of survival. We learn about their strategies and contingency plans. We learn about their survival tactics, and how they cope with everyday, terribly threatened, life. And most of it’s accomplished with no dialogue. Terrific visual storytelling.

Earth has been invaded, but we don’t know much about it, nor do they. The creatures are predators who hunt by sound. Any sound endangers you. When we see them, they’re essentially just claws and teeth and ears. They can’t see, but they’re also incredibly quick and strong. Humans have no chance against them, even if armed. We don’t know–the parents don’t know–who else is alive, but clearly some people are. Dad lights a bonfire periodically, and other bonfires can be seen in the distance.

The movie begins with a completely horrifying moment of shocking violence, for which the daughter–understandably, but wrongly–blames herself. But much of the movie is about their daily routines and coping mechanisms. The kids aren’t angels–they’re not perfect. They’re kids. They resent chores, they get testy with each other, they want to break family rules, sometimes they disobey. I love that about the movie. They’re a family. Loving, supportive, protective parents and kids who have each other’s backs, but don’t always get along. Krasinski and Blunt have the practiced intimacy of a real married couple. Hardly surprising, because they are in fact married, in real life.

The second half of the movie, however, essentially covers one day, and includes the most suspenseful scene I can remember from any movie ever, the ultimate ‘endangered woman’ scene. Mom is very pregnant; any day now level pregnant. And she’s injured herself. And her water has broken. And one of the creatures is in her house, hearing just enough to hunt, but not quite enough to attack. And so Mom has to give birth silently, in a tub, and somehow keep her new infant quiet, until she can be rescued. By her husband and children, who are physically helpless against the creature.

It’s a scene about a woman’s courage and intelligence, a scene in which the family joins forces in outwitting the beasts, since killing them seems impossible. It goes on and on, and the suspense deepens, and we’re wound higher and higher. And then I had to blow my nose. And thought I was about to kill us all. Blunt nails it. She’s just extraordinary, and yet, somehow, I thought Simmonds and Jupe and Krasinski were her equals. For this film to work, all four actors had to be tremendous. All were.

A Quiet Place is, in short, as exciting and scary and suspenseful and satisfying a movie as I have ever seen. My daughter and I were blown away by it, and shaking on our way out. Krasinski directed, and also had a screenwriting credit–kudos. It’s quite possible that the plot–the movie’s basic situation–wouldn’t stand up to much scrutiny. I assure you that I was much too shaken to even want to pick it apart. You might want to check with your cardiologist first, though.