Film Review - A Quiet Place: Day One (2024)

If a sequel which genuinely lives up to the original is a big ask, then a threequel is the cinematic equivalent of a poisoned chalice. Regardless of whether it’s yet another follow-up or a prequel, the cynical view that it’s an increasingly inferior product made with money in mind will always prevail. It’s often correct. But not always – as A Quiet Place: Day One demonstrates.

With its “does what it says on the tin” title, the film shows what happened when those noise-sensitive aliens fell en masse from the sky on one ordinary day in NYC. With no Abbott family this time, new director Michael Sarnoski (Pig) tells the story through the eyes of the seemingly mis-matched pair of terminal cancer patient Samira (Lupita Nyong’o) and law student Eric (Joseph Quinn). With the world plunged into devastating carnage and silence, they fight for survival as they make their way to the one place where the aliens can’t reach them. The two also have a constant companion, Samira’s cat, Frodo, who’s not just resourceful but a service animal in more ways than one.

Sarnoski knows exactly what his film is up against. The raw fear of the original A Quiet Place made people cower in their seats, while the sequel didn’t hit quite the same heights, and there’s little left to surprise us. We know what the aliens look like, the power of their extraordinarily acute hearing and why everybody has to keep totally silent. And, as in the first outing, there’s a couple of possible sources of noise which threaten destruction: nobody would be able to stop Frodo miaowing if he wanted to, and the pain that goes with Samira’s cancer is agonising. So what the film does is to lean into all the seeming obstacles in its way, turning them into advantages. We’re treated to more explicit views of the horrific invaders (including the Alien-style face to face close-up, complete with fangs dripping with nasty goo) and they travel in lightning-fast hoards rather than solo or in small groups.

And it plays on our expectations of what’s inevitably coming next with mischievously stress-inducing skill. At one point, thousands of New Yorkers walk silently through the streets. Nobody speaks, of course, but there’s a squeaky wheelchair, a suitcase bumping over paving stones and it’s all nothing short of a massive banquet for the invaders. But we’re made to wait until our nerves are stretched to near twanging point ….. It’s just as good when it comes to jump scares, keeping them to the bare minimum for maximum effect.

The two leads both give well-judged performances, with the camera constantly zooming in on their expressive eyes to go deeper into their combination of vulnerability and strength. And the all-seeing, all-knowing Frodo strengthens the argument for a feline equivalent of the Palme Dog – Palme Mog, anybody? – even if his appearances are shakily edited. But he’s such a scene stealer that we forgive it. The real downside is that Djimon Hounsou is criminally under-used, appearing in just a handful of scenes and given little or no opportunity to stamp his distinguished presence on the film. A Quiet Place: Day One is no match for the original but it’s a satisfying nerve-jangler that knows exactly how to keep its head above water. There is a sense, though, that the story has perhaps reached its natural conclusion. Let’s hope Krasinski and co know how to quit while they’re ahead.