In director Michael Sarnoski’s A Quiet Place: Day One, it is a seemingly ordinary day as terminally ill patient, Samira leaves the hospice and heads off to Manhattan. She gets off the bus, attends a marionette theatre show, and becomes lost in a performance of puppetry.
When the show is over, Sam heads back into the hustle and bustle of the day. People are everywhere, it’s loud and noisy – there’s little out of the ordinary.
But something is happening. Sirens screech in the background, fire falls from the sky, and suddenly there’s an explosion.
In an instant all life on Earth is at risk. Monsters have arrived and no one is safe.
If you’re a fan of the A Quiet Place movie series, you’ll know in 2018 audiences were gifted the absolutely superb horror movie, A Quiet Place – a film about creatures that react to sound. This was then followed two years later by the marvellous A Quiet Place II (2020).
With A Quiet Place: Day One we are now onto the third instalment. However, unlike the 2020 offering, this latest picture is a prequel to the original, rather than a sequel.
And as this is a prequel, we are rewinding the clock to day one of the alien invasion and getting a new cast as a result. OK, so Djimon Hounsou is back, reprising his role from A Quiet Place II, but other than that it’s all newbies, including Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn.
As for the story, well, it’s business as usual. Humans flee from sound-sensitive aliens, and death and chaos follow.
Is it worth your time? You bet ya!
A Quiet Place: Day One is an admirable horror-thriller which packs a punch and has plenty of meat on the bone. It might not always be quite as strong as its two predecessors, but it sure hits the spot nicely.
Similar to the first two films, A Quiet Place: Day One is a tense picture, where humanity fights for survival and silence is deafening. The film is built around whispers and silent screams, with Lupita Nyong’o’s Sam at the centre of the story.
Sam is a tragic figure, and one you can’t help but rally around. Fate has dealt her a bad hand, even more so with the alien invasion, and yet she keeps on trucking.
Because we are aware of her illness from the very beginning of the movie, there is a great deal of additional weight to the character and her plight. Nyong’o takes this weight and runs with it, delivering a heartfelt and touching performance in the process.
Joining Sam is cat Frodo, and human companion, Eric, as played by Joseph Quinn. Together these three prove more than capable of steering the picture forward without the need of the series’ regular protagonists, the Abbott family.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the Abbotts, but this film wisely chooses to side-step the family so we can explore a different(ish) story and it’s a welcome respite. We can see what the Abbotts are up to in the forthcoming A Quiet Place III, but for now we get new blood and I’m here for all of it.
Is A Quiet Place: Day One entirely necessary? No, we saw snippets of ‘day one’ before and it’s fair to say with this third entry a great deal of originality has gone out of the window, but it sure is entertaining nonetheless.
As prequels go, A Quiet Place: Day One is tip-top stuff and certainly worth the price of a ticket during the summer blockbuster season. There’s plenty of action dotted throughout the film, and lots of suspense too, and with its city centre setting things remain fairly fresh, even if some of it has been done before.
Should you wish to check out A Quiet Place: Day One, the movie is now playing in UK and US cinemas. While it’s not quite as scary as what’s come before, it’s thoroughly entertaining.
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