A Quiet Place: Day One (2024) is an exciting prequel to the Quiet Place film series originally created by John Krasinski who brought in Michael Sarnoski to write and direct this new addition to the lore. After his success with Pig (2021), Sarnoski gained a lot of attention from the film community and proved his exemplary storytelling skills with this new film project. This Thriller/Sci-Fi takes place in Manhattan, New York City on the day that blind extraterrestrial creatures with heightened hearing land on Earth and immediately begin their takeover. The people of New York quickly learn that extreme silence is the key to survival.
Scoring an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, this prequel to the Quiet Place franchise has most definitely proven it’s worth. This film finds a natural way to frighten and keep the audience on the edge of their seats throughout the entire film. It is always refreshing when a suspenseful film utilizes the element of silence quite well, and considering silence is the main element of this film, it’s relieving that the filmmakers executed it greatly.
One of the most fascinating things about this film is that it isn’t widely considered scary by viewers, but it almost seems that it doesn’t want to be a traditional type of scary movie, especially with the first two films in the series being pretty terrifying. Day One brings a new element of fear to the table, which really makes the audience not only wonder what they would do in this type of situation, but it also brings a new perspective with the character archetypes as well. The thing about these creatures is that it only takes one simple mistake for everything to be over, they could hear a pin drop and know exactly where it is. So the realism of how the rules of this world work brings on a different feeling of dread.
The dynamic between a disease ridden character, Sam (Lupita Nyong’o), and an anxious follower type, Eric (Joseph Quinn) is very interesting. Sam is already dying from cancer, and she’s accepted this pessimistically. On the opposite end, Eric is terrified and doesn’t want to be alone, and definitely not die, so he sticks close to Sam, who appears almost fearless given she doesn’t have much to lose. This story is more than just a horror movie, it’s about relationships and finding meaning in life even with an evident end. It shows how people are still capable of coming together in times of crisis, despite so many being lost and so many selfishly choosing violence. Strength comes from within and both of these characters demonstrate that in their own way, making for a quite beautiful story.
