The movie tells the story of a mother (Emily Blunt) and father (Krasinski) who struggle to survive and raise their children (Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe) in a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by blind extraterrestrial creatures with an acute sense of hearing.

Sightless aliens (dubbed "Death Angels") with sharp hearing and impenetrable armored skin have taken over the planet and killed most of the human population.

The Abbott family – mother Evelyn, father Lee, deaf daughter Regan, and sons Marcus and Beau – live on their isolated farm in the middle of a forest in upstate New York, and have survived by taking precautions such as laying sand paths to avoid stepping on crunching leaves and using American Sign Language when communicating.

While heading to the basement, she accidentally steps on an upright nail and drops a photo frame, alerting a nearby Death Angel which enters the house.

Struggling to stay silent amidst the pain, Evelyn flips a switch in the basement, turning the surrounding lights around the house red.

Lee enters the house armed with a shotgun and finds the baby and Evelyn, then brings them into a hiding spot under the floor in the barn outside.

Scott Beck and Bryan Woods began writing A Quiet Place in January 2016 based on a concept they conceived in college.

[11][8] Platinum Dunes producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller sent the script to Krasinski to play the role of the father,[12][13] which he read in July.

"[15][13] Blunt initially did not want to be cast, but after reading Krasinski's script on a flight she felt she needed to do it as the story "represented some of my deepest fears—of not being able to protect my children.

"[14][15] Beck and Woods said that Krasinski taking over the film as director "wasn't about reshaping it in any massive way" and that he "really protected our vision of the script".

Inspiration was also drawn from bog people: cadavers that have been mummified in peat, turning the skin black and giving it a sagging, leathery look.

[36] Of the seven trailers that aired during the playoff, A Quiet Place and Red Sparrow were shown during the pregame and had the lowest views and social conversations.

[18] The Tracking Board reported on March 14, "The stellar reviews out of SXSW, coupled with the fact that there isn't anything like it in the marketplace, should help it stand out among its bigger-budget competition.

BoxOffice wrote, "The horror genre has also shown a knack for over-performing against expectations at the box office in recent years, setting this release up for potential success."

[40] Paramount Pictures released the film in 3,508 theaters in the United States and Canada on April 6, 2018, alongside Blockers, Chappaquiddick, and The Miracle Season.

Unlike most horror films, which are front-loaded on Friday and experience drops the rest of the weekend, A Quiet Place made $19.1 million on Saturday.

It went on to debut to $50.2 million, topping the box office and marking the biggest opening for a Paramount film since Star Trek Beyond in July 2016.

The website's critical consensus reads: "A Quiet Place artfully plays on elemental fears with a ruthlessly intelligent creature feature that's as original as it is scary – and establishes director John Krasinski as a rising talent.

[65] Writing for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers gave the film 3.5 out of 4, praising the movie's exploration of themes about parenthood, and saying "This new horror classic will fry your nerves to a frazzle.

"[66] Variety's Owen Gleiberman said, "A Quiet Place is a tautly original genre-bending exercise, technically sleek and accomplished, with some vivid, scary moments, though it's a little too in love with the stoned logic of its own premise.

"[67] Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 2.5 out of 4 and said, "My favorite moment, an encounter between Regan and one of the monsters in a cornfield, plays with sound and image and tension, creatively.

"[69] Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com called A Quiet Place "Krasinski's breakthrough as a triple-threat entertainer, but it's been a long time coming... By no accident, he's tackled the horror genre while relying on the unique strength that can be seen throughout his acting work, and one that has made him relatable as an everyman across TV and film—expressive silence.

"[70] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian says: "In its simplicity and punch, this is a film that feels as if it could have been made decades ago, in the classic age of Planet of the Apes or The Omega Man.

[72] Tatiana Tenreyro, writing for Bustle, said while A Quiet Place was not a silent film, "It is the first of its kind within the modern horror genre for how little spoken dialogue it actually has."

She said the rare moments of spoken dialogue "give depth to this horror movie, showing how the narrative defies the genre's traditional films even further".

He cited Jaws (1975) as an influence, with how the protagonist police officer moved from New York to an island to avoid frightening situations, and was forced to encounter one in his new location with shark attacks.

[97] Richard Brody, writing for The New Yorker, criticized A Quiet Place for what he perceived to be the inclusion of conservative and pro-gun themes in the film.

He described it as "the antithesis of 'Get Out'" and "both apparently unconscious and conspicuously regressive" and opined that it "[brings] to the fore the idealistic elements of gun culture while dramatizing the tragic implications that inevitably shadow that idealism.

"[98] Krasinski addressed Brody's criticism in a subsequent interview with Esquire, stating that he did not write the film with an intentional political message.

It stars Lupita Nyong'o as a terminally ill woman attempting to escape New York City during the early stages of the alien invasion.