Directed by Michael Sarnoski and produced by John Krasinski, A Quiet Place: Day One takes place before the events of the first two films and follows a woman named Sam (Lupita Nyong’o) during the early stages of an invasion in New York City by the alien creatures with ultrasonic hearing. Paired with another survivor named Eric (Joseph Quinn) they must remain absolutely silent in order to survive and find a way out of the city.
The Quiet Place series has so far been one of the best modern horror series made in recent years after two incredible films made under the talented direction of John Krasinski. But before the upcoming third installment that continues the story of the Abbott family, we have this separate prequel spin-off story that takes place in New York City the day the creatures came to Earth and attacked on a global scale.
Even without having John Krasinski in the director’s chair for this one, I was still excited to see what this film would be like, especially in the hands of Michael Sarnoski given the talent he has shown. After getting the chance to see the film early I can happily say it is a magnificent addition to the Quiet Place series. It is a fantastic, terrifying, and beautiful human story of survival and finding inner peace, even during the end of the world. Phenomenal performances combined with a simple yet powerful narrative containing masterful visual storytelling and with that, you get a great standout installment in an already amazing horror series. This may have been the world that John Krasinski made but Michael Sarnoski was able to add his own style and tone with his take on it and it worked out wonderfully.
The true stars of this film are easily Lupita Nyong’o as Sam and Joseph Quinn as Eric who are both very compelling lead characters, together and on their own. Given Lupita Nyong’o’s stellar filmography, there was no doubt in my mind that she was going to be phenomenal and that is exactly what she was with her emotional performance as Sam.
Even with very little dialogue she’s able to give so much emotional weight to this character, making you feel completely invested in her as you see she is someone who is struggling to obtain some form of inner peace after being dealt a terrible hand in life. Despite the alien invasion around her she’s determined to find the one thing that can silence the physical and mental pain that she is enduring, making for a truly powerful and human journey that I was emotionally invested in from start to end.
Joseph Quinn surprised me in this film as he proves that he is not a one-trick pony after Stranger Things and is in fact capable of delivering strong performances on an emotional level with his role as Eric. Like Lupita, he’s able to give so much emotion with very little dialogue and perfectly embodies a terrified young man who wants nothing more than to survive this sudden apocalypse. Despite his fear of getting killed he shows himself to be capable of great compassion and willingness to help Sam accomplish her goal even with the threat of the creatures. Together they make an outstanding duo that is on par with the Abbott family in terms of being compelling leads in this series.
The supporting performances are rather small in this film but every cast member does a great job with their respective role even if it is a short amount of time they are on screen. This includes Alex Wolff as Reuben and Djimon Hounsou reprising Henri from Part II who both give short but emotionally powerful moments as their respective characters.
But I think the biggest supporting star most people are going to adore is Frodo the cat who is probably one of best animal companions we’ve had in a horror film in years.
The creatures, also known as Death Angels, are back and are once again just as terrifying and dangerous as they have always been, but here they are in full force as we get a new side of them not seen in the previous installments. We’ve seen the Death Angels being deadly and unstoppable monsters when they’re by themselves in the wilderness, but here we get to see them hunt in packs and act like voracious wolves that swarm in for the kill the instant they hear a sound.
You get to see firsthand how they were able to bring the most populated cities on Earth to their knees within hours and we see them at perhaps their most brutal in the series so far. We see them commit horrific acts of carnage against humans in this film that leaves the streets and buildings of New York City covered in blood, showing just how horrific and merciless they are as a species. They never fail to keep me on the edge of my seat every time I see their unearthly figures or hear their terrifying noises, especially in a completely new environment.
Now there is also another new thing they show with the creatures that was honestly a bit difficult to understand. There’s one scene in the film where it appears to be showing some kind of new element about the creatures and while I do appreciate it was being shown visually it wasn’t exactly understandable as to what it is they were doing exactly, so I hope we do get a behind the scenes explanation of it later.
As mentioned before, the film’s narrative is simple yet still powerful and emotionally moving thanks to Sarnoski’s decision to keep the story as a compelling character-driven narrative just like the previous films rather than making it some brainless non-stop apocalypse flick, which I think most people were concerned it was going to be when watching the trailers. There are certainly moments of thrilling chaos, excellent horror, and graphic killings that are present throughout the film, but it’s all done through the grounded perspective of the leads and all of it is executed perfectly through visual storytelling without needing a heavy reliance on dialogue.
In between the apocalyptic sequences, we do get some beautiful tender moments as well as a surprising amount of comedic moments that offer a balanced amount of much-needed levity to the film as a whole. I wasn’t expecting to laugh or smile as much as I did watching this film, given that the series has mostly been very mature in tone, but I really liked the lighter-toned moments this film had that I feel were written wonderfully, and they never undercut the emotional and darker portions of the film.
With the new setting being set in one of the biggest cities in the world, this provided the opportunity for Sarnoski and his crew to play around with some awesome technical elements that enhance the thrills and scares of the series and go bigger with them. The previous films have always been known for their impressive use of sound design and that trend continues with this film but on a much larger scale given the new environment.
This film establishes right from the start that New York City is statistically one of the loudest cities in the world and to see it go from its initial sound level to going dead quiet makes for an extremely eerie setting and just further enhances the apocalyptic horror aspect of the film. The way they make the smallest things make the loudest noise to attract the Death Angels is insanely good and just adds so much perfect tension and stakes to this story of survival.
The cinematography is absolutely stellar, featuring beautiful yet haunting shots of a ravaged New York as well as thrilling one-shot takes that add to the exciting thrills as the chaos gets going. The effects of the creatures still remain the best as they have always been, and given that there are a lot more of them on screen at once compared to the previous installments it’s great to see they all still look fantastic in detail.
I also was surprised by how much practical gore there was in this film despite the PG-13 rating. In almost every shot of the empty and dead quiet New York streets there were either mangled-up bodies or blood-soaked walls, windows, and cars scattered all over, making for some very horrifying visuals and easily making this the most graphic entry of the series so far.
The score for this film by Alexis Grapsas is both excellent and haunting but I will admit I do prefer Marco Beltrami’s score from the previous entries since it feels more memorable and iconic in comparison.
I was overall really satisfied with this film as it both lived up to my expectations as well as surprised me with its direction in a good way, offering an outstanding, grounded, standalone story that takes place in this universe and stays true to the heart of what made the previous installments so beloved. I’m going to give A Quiet Place: Day One an A = 97.
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