By Elliot Lines July 2, 2024
Set in the silent world of John Krasinski's A Quiet Place franchise, A Quiet Place: Day One is not your normal run of the mill prequels that provide context to those that come before it, but a different view of the unknown chaos that has fallen upon the earth. Within that it follows a story of survival amongst the chaos rather than focusing on the alien invasion that sent the world into silence.
Synopsis
When New York City comes under attack from an alien invasion, a woman and other survivors try to find a way to safety. They soon learn that they must remain absolutely silent as the mysterious creatures are drawn to the slightest sound.
Review
The Quiet Place universe is already well established, with two films showing us how relatively remote areas have dealt with the alien invasion. We had a glimpse at the start of A Quiet Place 2 of the start of the invasion, but only a snippet, A Quiet Place: Day One dives further in, and in a totally different environment. That environment, New York, one of the noisiest cities on the planet, and a perfect place to show the panic and chaos of these creatures that only react to sound. Where the film doesn't focus solely on said creatures, you still get a sense of dread and horror from the scenes we do see. Up til now we've seen them mostly in singular form, here they are working in herds and at a break neck speed, which makes them truly more terrifying.
Our main focus is Sam (Lupita Nyong'o), who has terminal cancer, and other than the love for her cat, Frodo, she has all but given up on life. A Quiet Place: Day One is all about finding a reason to live, and this is portrayed through Sam in eeking out as much as she can through her last few days on a planet that has just been thrown into chaos. There is desire but an acceptance of what's to come, and that desire comes from something as little as getting one last slice of pizza.
Alongside Nyong'o stars Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things), with Quinns character Eric providing Sam with someone that at first she doesn't want to warm to, but in this survival actually has found someone she can rely on in her last days. The two have great chemistry throughout, whether that be total dismissal at the beginning of their relationship, down to the walls coming down towards the end. And there has to be a special mention for Frodo, the cat, who causes chaos himself, but is the one to bring the trio together adding a touch more emotion (especially for cat lovers out there...me).
As mentioned before, the creature moments are terrifying, as these creatures have proved to be in the previous films. But even after realisation that they're triggered by sound, the actions of humans never ceases to amaze. One scene in particular stands out with hoards of people coming out on the street, dragging suitcases, bumping into each other, it was only going to end one way. Now in desperation, I guess, this would be highly likely to happen, but it's the normal for horror films for humans to make dumb decisions and here is no different.
A Quiet Place: Day One is a welcome return to this franchise, but offers a different perspective than its predecessors. This is a survivors story but each character has their own reasons to survive. It's filled with heart and emotion in amongst a chaotic, not so silent (regrettably so) landscape. This is a world I'd be happy to return to time and time again, if the quality of story is on the same level as this latest instalment.
Star Rating
A Quiet Place: Day One is out now in cinemas
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