Silence. For the first 20 minutes of a film, not a single word is spoken. It seems like a strange concept, but John Krasinski’s “A Quiet Place” manages to make it into one of the best thriller movies in a decade.

Horror has taken a path lately where the psychological aspect has become less important in favor of jump scares. It has made horror duller and more predictable.

In this movie, the monsters are drawn to sound, so any spoken word, broken vase, clink of a fork on a plate; any noise could mean imminent death.

The entire world is overtaken by creatures who hear even the smallest of noise, and the world becomes almost post-apocalyptic as a result.

“A Quiet Place” brings the fear back to horror. The element of terror that is brought with the thought of making a sound meaning death is terrifying.

Setting this movie further apart from played out tropes is the fact that the characters are actually intelligent.

Characters sometimes make unrealistic and stupid decisions just to further the plot in many horror movies, but this set of characters is the most realistic in a thriller film since the first “Saw.”

Emily Blunt portrays a pregnant woman who has to give birth without making sound. Krasinski’s character makes a sound-proof crib for the baby, including an oxygen mask so it can breathe and be fine with a lid closing it in.

They walk everywhere barefoot on sand to prevent any noises, and they communicate in sign language (which they know because Millicent Simmonds’ character of the daughter is deaf, with a broken hearing aide), doing everything they can to be quiet.

Suspense builds with small mistakes, and the monsters tune in to every small sound, making every moment tense and intriguing.

It’s been a long time since such care and attention was put into horror like this, and if it were to continue to progress like this, more great movies will come out of it.