One of my favorite horror films to come out from the last decade, was the 2018’s A Quiet Place. As a movie aficionado, I loved it for its great use of sound and a premise involving a family trying to make as little noise as possible in order to survive blind, alien creatures with incredible hearing. As a Catholic, I loved how its prolife message without feeling heavy-handed or pandering, which is something that stuck with me ever since watching it. A few years after that release, A Quiet Place Part II (2020) was released, and while it wasn’t as good as its predecessor, I still enjoyed it. I did love how they expended the world beyond the first film and introduced new characters and threats. Now, there’s a new entry in the series, although unlike the last film, this one is a prequel simply titled A Quiet Place: Day One.

I have to be honest, despite my love and appreciation of the franchise, A Quiet Place: Day One has been off my radar as of late. I have seen countless trailers for it before watching other films at the theater, but it hasn’t been on my mind compared to other films this summer such as Inside Out 2 and Deadpool and Wolverine. Maybe it’s because of some key changes from the first two films, such as the different cast, and a new director rather than John Krasinski (director of A Quiet Place and its sequel), who was busy making IF. Another factor is that it’s a prequel and we’ve already seen a pseudo prequel story with the second film as the first fifteen minutes showed how the alien creatures arrived on earth. However, to be fair, the prequel’s fresh characters, save for one who appeared in A Quiet Place: Part II, offers a bit more tension compared to other prequels that have the same familiar faces. Does A Quiet Place: Day One fair well compared to the others in the series? Let’s find out.

In A Quiet Place: Day One, we follow Sam (Lupita Nyong’o), a terminally ill cancer patient living in a hospice near New York City, with her service cat Frodo. One day, Sam’s nurse Reuben (Alex Wolff) takes her and other patients to the city to see a puppet show. In the middle of the show, Sam sneaks out to a convenient store and upon returning, she is informed by Reuben that they need to head back to the hospice. This is a disappointing turn of events for Sam as she was anticipating getting pizza while in the city. While on the bus to the hospice, the other patients notice something strange falling from the sky, which happens to be the alien creatures that we know from the first two films. One of the creatures’ crashes near the bus which causes Sam to evacuate before passing out. She later wakes up in the theatre and is silenced by Henri (Djimon Hounsou), a fellow theatre patron who is aware of how the creatures operate when it comes to sound. Stuck in a building full of people not knowing what to do including Reuben, Sam informs him that she is going to Harlem with her cat to get pizza. At first Reuben thinks she’s joking but as soon as he figures out she’s serious, a generator kicks in after the lights went out. Though Reuben was successful in turning it off and cutting off the noise, a creature pops up and kills him on sight. The next morning, Sam takes off for Harlem and along the way, she meets Eric (Joseph Quinn), a law student from England who got stuck in a New York subway station that flooded thanks to the creatures. When we meet him, he is clearly experiencing shellshock from the events of the invasion but finds comfort in Frodo. From there, Sam, Eric and Frodo journey towards Harlem hoping for pizza from a specific joint while staying quiet as possible.

Was A Quiet Place: Day One better than the original? Unfortunately, no, though I wasn’t expecting it to be given how great the first one truly is even after six years. I will say, however, that it is a bit of an improvement over A Quiet Place Part II as it expands the world even further with new characters with which to sympathize.   

From the perspective of someone who is a fan of the series, A Quiet Place: Day One was able to hit on what made this series great in the first place, such as the use of sound. Sound plays a big part in these films as characters have to remain silent in order to avoid these alien creatures with acute hearing. Oblivious, the protagonists don’t know how these creatures operate at first, and a good amount of them get killed because of that lack of knowledge. The movie shows them discovering how these creatures function in a way that’s not over explaining the details, but letting you naturally come to the conclusion as to what is happening. There are a couple moments where you start to question whether people are making too much of a racket in certain situations, but the direction they took with that pays off as they show the consequences of that amount of noise. It could be hard to watch if you’re someone prone to sympathy for background characters getting killed, but it would’ve been unrealistic if the film didn’t follow its own rules. In other words, be prepared for PG-13 style horror violence if you do go see this one.

As a movie lover, I enjoyed what A Quiet Place: Day One did on a technical level through its use of sound and scenes of action. As a Catholic, I particularly liked how they portrayed the themes of humanity in this film, which is saying a lot because I was somewhat nervous for the character of Sam from the start. When we first meet her, she’s portrayed as someone you don’t want to spend time with. In other words, she was a bit of a jerk. I did give some leeway as she was struggling with cancer and I couldn’t totally fault her behavior because most of us would’ve been in her mindset if we were going through a terminal illness. It wasn’t until she’s meets Eric when the film starts its humanitarian side. I often believe that the good Lord sends someone in our times of need, even if we think we don’t need that particular someone. At first, Sam rejects Eric’s company, but allows him to travel with her. As the movie progresses, we see the silver lining of this tragedy with random acts showcasing the positive side of humanity. I don’t want to give away much more than I what I have so far in case you want to see it for yourself, but let’s just say I left the theater satisfied.

Theres’s a lot more I can say about A Quiet Place: Day One. It’s one of those rare horror films that I want people to see for themselves because at the end of the day, it’s a film that shows the positive side of humanity when disaster strikes. Further, it does so subtly, meaning the film takes it’s time showing you its humanitarian side rather than having generic dialogue bog it down. If you are not into horror, chances are you will not favor this too much given the jump scares throughout the film. That said, however, if you can handle it, then I believe you’ll be in for an unexpected treat this summer.