Part of the success of these two films is their conspicuous absence of in-your-face gore and blood theatrics that have long been the hallmark of horror films coming out of Hollywood.
What these two films present instead is a narrative that utilizes prolonged suspense and a harrowing sense of ultra-sensory creepiness that leave moviegoers by turns fearful and excited, clueless at what the characters are fighting against and what's going to happen next.
At the onset, it is well to know that in A Quiet Place, a family is forced to live in complete silence to avert being attacked by blind monsters who hunt for their prey using their ultra-sensitive sense of hearing. To survive, this family must literally keep quiet. In Bird Box, an unknown epidemic descends upon humanity. Those who happen to be inflicted by it commit suicide and the only way to escape whatever it is is by not looking at it at all costs.
Here, we take a comparison of these two films using the following rubric:
Character Development
A Quiet Place features less characters, so it has the luxury of time to present each one of them with unique traits and a certain degree of depth. Their traits, fears, motivations, and tendencies are threshed out, making for compelling portraits of characters and their predispositions.
In Bird Box, there are just too many characters to make an in-depth character analysis out of. As such, many of the characters, except perhaps Sandra Bullock's character Malorie, act in a certain way without the benefit of context as to why they are what they are.
Mood
A Quiet Place is more somber, mainly because much of the film is silent in keeping with its overarching theme. But it is precisely in the absence of verbal dialogues that the film draws its power. Here, the characters communicate through non-verbal ways -- through sign language, body language, the way they look at each other, the way they touch each other. In this film silence is the norm, but you get the creepy sense that this silence is temporal, that somewhere in the film this silence will be shattered. Emily Blunt's number as Evelyn Abbott, a pregnant woman who gives birth in silence at the height of an attack by a monster predator, easily counts as one of the movie's highlights.
In Bird Box, the overall mood is dark but less somber. There is definitely more histrionics here due in large part to the contrasting attitudes of the motley crew of survivors forced to live together. But the foreboding sense of approaching danger does not go away, inching closer by the minute, making itself apparent like an inescapable fact.
Resolution
In both movies, the male protagonists die sacrificing themselves so that the lead female characters and their young children could survive. This sort of narrative perpetuates the trite storyline that the weak, the feeble, and the defenseless end up surviving only because of the bravery and courage of the sacrificing male.
In any event, both movies end on a positive note. In A Quiet Place, the survivors discover the ultimate way to defeat and annihilate the monstrous human-eating predators. In Bird Box, the survivors discover a sanctuary where they could live freely and safely.
All things considered, A Quiet Place and Bird Box typify the sort of horror/suspense thriller that does not thrive on cliches. But as with all things, no two movies are created equal. In this regard, A Quiet Place trumps Bird Box based on the rubric presented above.
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Have you seen either or both films? How was your reaction? Which one did you like? If you haven't seen either or both, do you have any plan of seeing them? Join in the discussion by leaving a comment below.