Director: Michael Sarnoski
Writer: Michael Sarnoski, John Krasinski
Cast: Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, Djimon Hounsou

One of the greatest things any filmmaker can do when making a horror film is understand how frightening silence can be for an audience and use it effectively. At times it is very well done (2007’s Paranormal Activity, for example), but none have utilised it so well than the A Quiet Place franchise. Beginning with the first instalment in 2018 and gracing our screens again in 2021 with a sequel, it has gained quite a following for being an immersive and decent horror experience, particularly in cinemas where so much as a crunch of your popcorn will garner you some death stares. In this third outing of the franchise, we are taken back to, as the title declares, day one of the alien invasion. In this prequel, is the premise and execution just as terrifying and worthy of the A Quiet Place label, or should the franchise start a quiet retreat back into the shadows?

***WARNING: There will be spoilers for the first movie and its sequel.

In the opening scene of A Quiet Place Part 2, we are given a glimpse of the day the Death Angels (or so I’ve learned they’ve been labelled) arrived on earth and began exterminating humans. In Day One, we begin in New York City on the very same day. Samira (Nyong’o), a terminally ill cancer patient, is on a day trip to the city with other patients from the hospice she lives at. She also takes along her service cat, Frodo. The city (and the world at large) is besieged by falling meteors carrying alien creatures that are apparently blind and have an extreme aversion to sound. Samira loses everyone she came to the city with, so she decides to venture out on her own to reach Harlem. Along the way, she meets Eric (Quinn), a law student from England. He tags along with Samira and Frodo, and together they help each other in an attempt to survive the onslaught.

Day One is described as both a spin-off (featuring only one familiar face from the previous movie) and a prequel to the franchise. A spin-off it certainly is, but I’m not so sure about the ‘prequel’ label. It’s a fine spin-off, in which we are introduced to two new characters with their own lives and backgrounds, making it a refreshing step away from the Abbott family for one film, and we are also given a fresh perspective from within a city that was once one of the most populous in the world rather than a small-town point of view. However, a ‘prequel’ is generally a vehicle for expanding a main aspect of a story (usually a character or an event) that runs through a franchise, providing more background information and exposition. Day One gives very little extra information or exposition. Some may consider that a good thing; sometimes overexposing can lead to boredom or taking away from the imagination (which can sometimes be a good bit more frightening that whatever we’re given in a film). But by the time we’re on the third movie of a franchise, at this point the audience deserve more of an explanation: where did these creatures come from? Has anyone worked on dissecting one, or taking a look at the meteors? The film even lacked a decent explanation for people (particularly the main character) figuring out that the Death Angels have exceptional hearing. This prequel would have been a good chance to explore the more grounded areas of these creatures and why they ended up on earth, so I think it missed out on a lot of potential.

Initially, the original creators of the story and characters were concerned about the first movie being pushed to be a part of the Cloverfield franchise, but fortunately that did not happen. Cloverfield is a franchise that started off with a solid movie with lots of potential but then the production company went about things in strange way, and to have thrown the initial premise of A Quiet Place in the mix would have been bad news for both. Where A Quiet Place works well is that it takes elements of films such as Cloverfield (the good parts) and War of the Worlds and makes good use of them while standing on its own two feet. The city setting worked well for Day One, and it did continue to use the silence effectively, and the terror of an alien invasion and subsequent attack is always grounds for a good scare. The jump scares were there but were fortunately not pre-empted by any music or sound, diegetic or non-diegetic, and there were moments of genuine fear to be had. However, it did fall a little short in the cinematography (the ‘shaky cam’ parts were too janky and unnecessary) and honestly, without giving too much away, I don’t think the cat was really necessary either, with its inclusion kind of became a running joke by the end.

Performance-wise, there’s not much to complain about, fortunately. Nyong’o is an exceptionally talented actor, and her portrayal of Samira and her will to fulfil her own wishes before her terminal sickness takes her really shoulders the film. Her platonic chemistry with Quinn is also quite palpable, with Quinn’s character having his own issues that he works to fight against. Both make for an excellent lead and support, and without their talents, this film could quite easily have been lost. Hounsou returns briefly as his character from the second movie, but, much like the cat, he felt completely unnecessary. The only reason he could possibly have featured is as an ‘Easter Egg’ of sorts, a link to the rest of the franchise (as if the Death Angels weren’t enough?).

I am a big fan of A Quiet Place 1 & 2; I think the premise of each is interesting (the first more so than the second), the performances sturdy and the overall experience is a real lesson in horror-filmmaking. A Quiet Place: Day One is perfectly fine as a spin-off, but I expected more from it as a prequel. Particularly, more exposition and explanation (but not fully: a little left to the imagination is always good), and maybe the inclusion of a wider range of characters, growing from the handful we’ve had in the previous two movies. I think the franchise still has some life in it, but I would implore the writers (specifically John Krasinski, who has been steering most of the franchise in one way or another), to start thinking a little more outside the box.