A Quiet Place: Day One finds the humanity amidst the horror

The primary issue with a prequel is the lack of stakes; we already know where things end up, which can drain the film of any real suspense. That’s not an issue with A Quiet Place: Day One, the tense and surprisingly touching third entry in the horror franchise. 

Series director and star John Krasinski has passed the torch onto director Michael Sarnoski (Pig), who is tasked with showcasing the first day of the alien invasion that goes on to decimate most of Earth’s population. 

The film stars Lupita Nyong’o as Sam, a cancer patient in hospice care in New York who sets out on a group outing to the city accompanied by her nurse Reuben (Alex Wolff), and her trusty service cat Frodo.

Before Sam can get a slice of her promised NYC pizza, terrifying creatures begin descending from the sky, wiping out every human in their path. Doing her best to stay as quiet as possible (the creatures respond to sound), Sam and Frodo attempt to make their way through the devastated city alongside Eric (Joseph Quinn), a British law student who joins the duo in their quest for survival. 

If you’re going to essentially make a silent movie, casting the endlessly expressive Lupita Nyong’o does a lot of the heavy lifting for you. Even in prolonged scenes with little to no dialogue, it’s easy to follow Sam’s thoughts and emotions through her facial expressions, which only add to the film’s intimacy. 

Michael Sarnoski deftly balances the film’s high-octane action set pieces with quiet moments of introspection as Sam attempts to make her way to Harlem to visit a pizza shop she used to visit with her father as a child (even the apocalypse can’t hold a candle to a good NY slice).

Sam’s time is running out in more ways than one, and Sarnoski (who also wrote the screenplay) turns what could have been a standard horror-thriller into a mediation on how to make the most of one’s life even in the bleakest of circumstances.

That may sound highfalutin for the third entry in a horror franchise, but make no mistake; A Quiet Place: Day One absolutely delivers on the terror front. Taking a page from James Cameron’s Aliens, the film features prolonged shots of the creatures unfolding face-to-face with the leads, as well as a handful of pulse-racing chase scenes featuring incredible creature work and wanton property destruction.

Featuring a stirring lead performance from Lupita Nyong’o (as well as some serious screen time for Frodo the cat) and a deft mix of horror and human emotion, A Quiet Place: Day One is so much better than it had to be. Even though we know where the story is going, as the film proves, it’s the journey that matters the most. 

A Quiet Place: Day One is in theatres now.