New A Quiet Place film scores with unbeatable secret weapon

Some skepticism was already appropriate in advance as to whether A Quiet Place: Day One, which starts today on June 27, 2024, would be any good. A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place 2 were such outstanding sci-fi horror films and now the next entry before A Quiet Place 3 should be a prequel with new characters? And one that tells of the day of the invasioneven though we had already witnessed the beginning of the silent terror in several flashbacks?

But fortunately, the doubts were unfounded: The new A Quiet Place film holds up well with its new big city approach… and with hairy companions.

A Quiet Place: Day One knows how to use the sci-fi strengths of its predecessors

On a normal day, New York City has a noise level of 90 decibels, which is the volume of a constant scream. With this information, A Quiet Place: Day One cleverly sets the course right from the start. As the third entry in the franchise, the sci-fi prequel may also be an invitation for newcomers.

But anyone who has seen the two previous films already knows that the alien monsters, which according to the title are due to arrive on Earth at any moment, hunt everything that makes a noise. The telling shot of a cemetery, in which the gravestones flow seamlessly into the Manhattan skyline, comes as a skillfully threatening premonition the approaching dead(silence) therefore.

But first, the sci-fi prequel manages to take us to the outbreak of the catastrophe in just 10 minutes convincing the new main character to recommend: Samira aka Sam (Lupita Nyong’o) is a cancer patient in the final stages of her illness. She writes angry poems entitled “Shit” and only reluctantly leaves the hospice after her carer (Alex Wolff) promises to take her downtown for pizza after her visit to the theater.

Drawing believable characters in just a few scenes was already a strength of the previous A Quiet Place films, in which we worried passionately about the members of the Abbott family. The spin-off now repeats this feat with Lupita Nyong’o’s fantastically acting protagonist. When comets rain from the sky and the alien invasion of the relentless hunters breaks in, we believe we have known her for a long time and willingly follow her into the silent apocalypse.

The A Quiet Place prequel has a new secret weapon named Frodo

Protagonist Sam is not alone in A Quiet Place: Day One, however, and this is one of the great strengths of the new film. The unexpected second main character at her side is a Cat named Frodo.

The A Quiet Place films, which insist on silence, have so far had a unpredictable volume element: In part 1 it was Evelyn’s pregnancy (how can you not scream when you’re giving birth?), in part 2 it was the newborn baby who was too young to understand the seriousness of loud noises. The third film introduces Samira’s beloved pet, another creature that is difficult to control and needs to be cared for. Because even if his master is terminally ill, the nerve-racking question of whether the cat will survive the apocalypse inevitably arises.

Frodo may be quiet on his cat’s paws, but he is still a danger when he is let off the leash and goes on forays at the most inopportune moments. The animal is Comfort and terror at the same timeWe want to bury our faces in Sam’s fur to calm him down when they have mastered a new emergency situation together and he even brings his owner together with the third main character, Eric (Joseph Quinn). But cats are known to not take orders and having to rescue a tomcat again and again means taking risks that can quickly cost others their lives.

A Quiet Place: Day one of self-employment within the franchise framework

Only when it comes to the sometimes somewhat flat motivation of the characters (Frodo excluded), A Quiet Place: Day One is a little weak. The fact that Sam does not go to the lifeboat for evacuation during the alien invasion, but to the pizza shop, seems strange for a long time. Only later is it explained with a reason other than hungry stubbornness.

Why exactly the obviously traumatized Eric joins her remains unclear until the end. But in the midst of this breathless sci-fi experience, this can be overlooked.

The two main human characters bring plenty of emotions to their perfect cast to underline: Lupita Nyong’o proves again after Us, with her eyes wide open and suffering in silence, that horror needs no words. Joseph Quinn, on the other hand, skilfully carries the pain of his character Eddie, who died in the monster fight in Stranger Things, into the next sci-fi horror.

In his prequel, director Michael Sarnoski (Pig) understands that A Quiet Place: Day One should not simply reproduce the approach of the previous films a third time. So instead of keeping the monsters out of our field of vision for a long time, he prefers to unleash them on a city tour of the streets, roofs, sewers and bridges of New York.

The horror of them crawling out of their holes like cockroaches because a helicopter is roaring over the city has a horror all its own. In addition, hints like a globe, flying jets, and alien eggs (?) gently expand the world of A Quiet Place. We’re still learning about silent survival, using rain as soundproofing, and kicking down doors to the rumble of a storm.

Enriched with (not revealed here) difficult moral decisionswhich Henri (Djimon Hounsou from part 2) has to face in the apocalypse, following the example of The Tin Drum, the latest film in the A Quiet Place series does not fail to have its effect. When Lupita Nyong’o stumbles outside covered in dust, we too in the cinema fight as quietly as possible not to cough, even though it scratches our throats visually.

The fact that such a goosebump-inducing experience still works even in the third reading of a story that is actually well known is a remarkable feat. And this time even with a cat.