Some horror films cut right to the very heart of humanity. They borrow into the deepest recesses of our psyche and drill into our primal fears. They tell us something about ourselves while scaring the bejeezus out of us.

A Quiet Place isn’t one of those films.

This isn’t a horror film with a profound psychological undercurrent. It is a horror film with a killer premise, and terrifying setpieces executed meticulously by director/star John Krasinski. The premise is a blend of the first T-Rex scene from Jurassic Park and an especially tense game of hide-and-seek; essentially, the world’s ravaged by monsters that hunt you through sound. It’s the perfect concept for cinema screenings where every crinkle of a chip packet sets you on edge.

Shame the screenplay couldn’t have been …better. While the film’s centrepiece is honed to perfection – buoyed by the brilliant work of Krasinski and his cast – upon reflection it’s hard not to be a little miffed by the paint-by-numbers foreshadowing and the hyper-traditionalist family model anchoring the story. If you’re looking for something to linger for weeks afterwards, look elsewhere. If you want carefully-crafted scares with a unique spin, however, you should venture into A Quiet Place.