The A Quiet Place series has been a landmark for the horror/sci-fi genre since the first one came out in 2018. The first movie was an instant classic for me due to its inventive storytelling and filmmaking by John Krasinski. A Quiet Place Part II was the rare sequel that equaled the original.
Now we have A Quiet Place: Day One, a prequel to the events of the first two. While it doesn’t quite have the same wow factor as those two, it remains a solid, effective summer thriller.
The movie stars Lupita Nyong’o as Sam, a bitter, cynical patient with terminal cancer. She lives in a hospice in New York City and has a service cat named Frodo as her best friend. She really loves pizza.
While she’s out with other patients watching a play, a series of giant meteors come crashing down. These meteors contain creatures without sight which can only sense when people are near due to their smell and, of course, when there’s noise.
Sam gets separated from her group during the attacks until she runs into a survivor named Eric (Joseph Quinn), whom she reluctantly teams up with to escape the city.
The movie doesn’t give an explanation for how or why the creatures came to Earth. Instead, it’s much more interested in set pieces by creating an atmosphere in which the creatures inevitably target the humans, but they always manage to stay one step ahead.
That’s somewhat of a plot hole due to the fact that the movie would rather rely on the audience’s knowledge of the earlier films so that it makes sense. Anyone coming in for the first time without seeing the previous films might find the logic scattered.
Krasinki did a fine job combining atmosphere and suspense with such an inventive story. New director Michael Sarnoski tries to duplicate that formula and the results mostly work, but a little more exposition would probably be sufficient.
Day One isn’t necessarily about fan service and it gives us thrilling sequences that occasionally feel airtight. He also knows how to shoot scenes that are about the characters such as when Sam and Eric get moments to talk and those scenes have a richness that makes us empathize with them.
The movie is obviously setting itself up for more entries whether they be prequels or sequels and I’m intrigued enough to see it continue.
Day Four could take place in Los Angeles, and Day 12 could take place in London. The possibilities are worth considering.
Grade: A-
(Rated PG-13 for terror and violent content/bloody images.)
