A Quiet Place: Day One Movie Review

A Quiet Place: Day One (2024) Movie Review

One of the most surprising and unexpecting franchises in the last 10-years in terms of its success and quality, has been John Krasinski’s ‘A Quiet Place’ franchise. The first film simply titled ‘A Quiet Place’ released back in 2018, directed by and starring John Krasinski, written by writing and now directing duo Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (Haunt, 65 and Heretic) and produced by Michael Bay through his production company ‘Platinum Dunes’ proved to be a massive success, grossing just shy of $341 million worldwide and becoming a massive success with critics and audiences alike, holding an impressive 96% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and 83% audience score. Since the immense success of the original film, we have got a COVID-19 delayed sequel, that saw similar success grossing nearly $298 million worldwide, and now a prequel, ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’, that experienced again similar success, with an impressive 87% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes (73% audience score) and $261 Million at the worldwide box office. 

The latest instalment, ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’, is the first in the franchise not to be helmed by director John Krasinski with the critically acclaimed director of ‘Pig’ starring Nicolas cage (my favourite film of 2021) Michael Sarnoski taking the reigns as director and co-writer. The film serves as a prequel to Part I and Part II. It explores the chaotic early days of the alien invasion that forces humanity into silence to survive. The story follows a young woman named Sam (played by Lupita Nyong’o) as she finds herself trapped in New York City on day one of the alien invasion. She partners with a gentlemen named Eric (played by Joseph Quinn), who finds himself in the same situation, a long way from home, battling the hearing-sensitive invaders. As a fan of the first two films, I was looking forward to this prequel and I’m happy to report it does not disappoint.

‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ expands upon the story told in the first two parts, by exploring different locations and characters during the invasion. Our two man characters Sam and Eric are one of the real strengths of this story here. Following this unlikely duo, traverse a changing world and adapting to the horrors of the invaders is truly fascinating and deeply impactful on a narrative and human level. We are never dealt a huge amount of backstory for our characters, rather learning little bits and pieces as we go, but this is to the benefit of the audience, as they get enough information along the way to make you really care and connect with the both of them. Sam is battling cancer and has become a recluse and pessimist well before the end of the world, and rightfully so. Her journey and ability to connect with Eric given the circumstances is quite lovely and really sweet. Eric’s journey as well is quite profound, he’s a young man stuck far away from home and not really sure what to do. Similar to Sam, Eric finds purposes in the apocalypse with a sense of belonging. The two of them together make for one of the most unlikely duos to grace the silver screen in 2024, but easily one of my favourites. These characters are bought to life wonderfully my Joseph Quinn who backs up his turn as Eddie Munson in season 4 of Stranger Things, showing he is in fact a force to be reckoned with on the screen and Lupita Nyong’o is again wonderful here, showing a level of sympathy and power simultaneously that few actors would be able to do. The film is worth watching for these to alone.

As a prequel, the film does an excellent job as well, giving fans little pieces of information that have impacts on the first film, including the introduction of Djimon Hounsou as Henri who featured in ‘A Quiet Place: Part II’. This inclusion helps the film’s universe feel expansive, without it feeling like it is pandering to the audience. Seeing the confusion and the panic throughout the film is a huge reason why the film works for me. I am a huge fan of films that show and outbreak or invasion on the ground in the early stages. Zack Synder’s ‘Dawn of The Dead’ 2004 remake does this perfect, barry Levinson’s ‘The Bay’ also does a great job with it, ‘The Last of Us’ last year also did this well and now Michael Sarnoski’s film has also done this well, creating pure chaos and panic in the wake of the invasion.

Another highlight of ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ is Michael Sarnoski direction. He does an amazing job here with creating tension from these terrifying creatures known as ‘Death Angels’ highlighting their vicious nature, speed and ferocity. We’ve seen how dangerous they are in the two previous instalments, but with unsuspecting victims here in the first day of the invasion their attacks feel a scarier, more intense and more brutal.  Some of the sequences here rank among some of the best of the franchise so far. The setting is also a nice reprieve from the previous two instalments there is something unsettling seeing New York the subject of this day one invasion. We’ve seen it so many times before, but here, it doesn’t make it any less impactful. 

Overall, ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ is a solid horror flick and an impactful thriller. Its tense, scary and emotionally effective, with our two lead characters grounding these events in reality and providing the audience with two characters to latch onto. As far as prequels go, this easily ranks among one of the best in recent years. Its effective in its execution and elevates the first two instalments, providing fans with little references and easter eggs. This is a must-watch for fans and one of the biggest surprises of the year so far. Be sure to secure your copy on DVD, Blu-Ray or 4K UHD today, you won’t want to miss this one!

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Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here