A Quiet Place: Day One (2024, dir. Michael Sarnoski)
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 99 mins
UK Distributor: Paramount
UK Release Date: 27 June 2024
WHO’S IN A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE?
Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, Djimon Hounsou, Eliane Umuhire
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Michael Sarnoski (director, writer), Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Brad Full and John Krasinski (producers), Pat Scola (cinematographer), Andrew Mondshein and Gregory Plotkin (editors)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
New York is attacked by alien creatures that hunt by sound…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE?
When novice filmmakers first make waves with their breakout independent feature, and are then hired by major studios to make a new entry in one of their lucrative franchises, you can more often than not feel the absence of those filmmakers’ voices in whatever studio-backed slop they’ve been assigned to. Luckily, that is not the case with Michael Sarnoski, whose work on A Quiet Place: Day One carries a voice that is very much in sync with his outstanding debut Pig, but while the stakes are much higher here than they were when Nicolas Cage set out to find his missing swine, the writer-director still manages to find the powerful humanity in an increasingly devastating environment.
That alone makes A Quiet Place: Day One a true gem in this particular franchise, enough to where I would even consider it my new favourite of the bunch.
A standalone prequel to the first two John Krasinski-directed films, Day One takes place in the city of New York, where terminally ill cancer patient Sam (Lupita Nyong’o) is on a day trip with her hospice, though she would rather get herself a slice of pizza than endure the marionette play she’d been roped into attending. Very soon, however, an endless horde of creatures that hunt exclusively by sound arrive from the skies and lay into just about everything and everyone making a noise in the infamously loud city. Sam – with her support cat Frodo in tow – is left to survive within the newly silent city, along with British law student Eric (Joseph Quinn) who accompanies her on a mission to safely exit the city, all without making a sound.
As with the first two movies, A Quiet Place: Day One carries an almost unbearable tension in scenes where the faintest sound could spell death within seconds. Structurally, such scenes follow the regular pattern to what has come before, with people almost literally tiptoeing around dark creature-infested areas filled with all sorts of potential loud noises scattered across every possible path. In some respects, it’s not wholly different to sequences from the previous films, so I can understand if some people just see this film as more of the same.
Here, though, Sarnoski not only has a much bigger New York-shaped palate to work with for these familiar sequences – utilising such locations as darkened subway stations and entire blocks of streets for the creatures to lurk about and hunt within – but he has also been given the opportunity to make the overall atmosphere as freshly apocalyptic as possible, which only increases the bleakness and dread of the situation. Through some moody cinematography and meticulous set design, Sarnoski creates some genuinely unsettling imagery within this completely ransacked version of New York, where ash blankets over the silent streets like snow, and abandoned vehicles are completely smashed and soaked in blood. More than even John Krasinski’s more remotely located entries, the ferocity of these creatures is felt in just about every corner of this city, even when they’re not physically present, and as he did with Pig, Sarnoski brings an overwhelming sense of devastation to this grim and desolate environment that elevates the horror to genuinely creepy levels (aside from, perhaps, one pretty cheap jump-scare scene midway through).
As grim as his level of terror may be, Sarnoski also has an exceptional way of allowing the emotional human core to shine without taking away any of its terrifying impact. In the same way that Krasinski was able to make his audience care for the family at the centre of his Quiet Place movies, he creates a small number of characters who each have their own powerful moments that you are almost immediately sucked into. The filmmaker’s gentle writing and direction, along with the tremendous performances by the likes of Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn, completely grips you to where after a while you’re no longer just counting down the minutes until the next formulaic scare scene, since you’re so engrossed in these characters and the arcs that they are on, including the most heartbreaking pizza run of all time.
While their characters aren’t massively fleshed out – though given that this world is currently under attack by alien creatures, it’s easy to forgive them for bypassing their life stories – Nyong’o and Quinn are on top form as they share scenes which are at times deeply moving, so much so that you might even feel something forming in your tear ducts. One wordless late scene in particular could, in another universe, function as its own short film, since it packs so much charm and emotional wallop within mere minutes of screentime, and really brings out the true warmth of these performers as they portray characters that are both easy to root for. And yes, the cat Frodo which makes up this unlikely trio is utterly adorable, and all but strides away with the film (and, perhaps more amazingly, remains completely quiet at all times).
Three movies in, and it’s quite impressive how the Quiet Place series has managed to deliver consistent quality from its seemingly singular hook. However, having thought about it, I do feel that A Quiet Place: Day One is now my personal favourite of the series, because while it’s certainly doing a lot of the same stuff – albeit in a larger, more populated, and indeed noisier location – there is something quite profound about how Sarnoski manages to resist following much of the franchise formula and instead uses it as the foundation for authentic, hard-hitting human drama. If that isn’t something to shout from the rooftops about, then I don’t know what is.
SO, TO SUM UP…
A Quiet Place: Day One sees writer-director Michael Sarnoski create an impressively grim apocalyptic New York landscape that serves as the scene for tense if familiar sequences that are elevated by the pure humanity at its core, as elegantly performed by Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn, which make it a highlight of this already solid franchise.
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