“A Quiet Place” is a franchise that made noise.
The first film, released back in 2018, was such a breakout hit that plans were immediately hatched for more sequels and an expanded universe, which would include additional spinoffs. What began as an anomaly – a small scale PG-13-rated horror film, about a family maneuvering the dynamics of a new world ruled over my sound-sensitive monsters, as emotional as it was terrifying – has become a dynasty all of its own.
And with “A Quiet Place: Day One” hitting theaters this week (and receiving solid reviews), we thought we’d look back at the “Quiet Place” universe before it gets even bigger and more complicated.
3. “A Quiet Place: Day One” (2024)
Taking a cue from “A Quiet Place: Day II,” which began with a cold open set before the events of the original movie, “A Quiet Place: Day One” is set completely in the direct aftermath of the initial alien invasion. Instead of an adorable family, the movie follows a dying cancer patient (Lupita Nyong’o) and a wayward college graduate (Joseph Quinn) as they amble through a destroyed New York City (shot in London, of course). The “Quiet Place” movies have never been burdened by an overabundance of plot. That used to be a feature. Here it’s a bug. Writer/director Michael Sarnoski, coming off of indie hit “Pig,” is clearly more interested in the atmosphere of the world more than any sort of narrative drive, digging into themes of grief and the collective power of resilience. There are early sequences of extreme intensity, which gradually give way to more tiresome interludes. Thankfully, Nyong’o’s performance is transfixing. It’s enough to help you clear any storytelling stumbling blocks. And it’s nice to see another filmmaker understand what makes “A Quiet Place” so powerful – sensitivity is just as important as scares.
2. “A Quiet Place Part II” (2020)
The first “Quiet Place” saw John Krasinski significantly re-write a script that had already been purchased by Platinum Dunes and Paramount. With “A Quiet Place Part II,” Krasinski could build his story from the ground up. You can feel the world of “A Quiet Place” start to get bigger, both with the aforementioned cold open that imagines the earliest days of the invasion, and the storyline for the sequel, which sees the family’s intrepid deaf daughter (Millicent Simmonds) team up with a fellow survivor (Cillian Murphy) and travel to an island where the inhabitants live free of the looming specter of incoming monster attacks. They also introduce some very bad survivors and a sonic frequency that can be used to incapacitate the creatures. It all works, beautifully, thanks to Krasinski’s excellent direction and the finely calibrated performers of everybody involved (Emily Blunt, who returns in a smaller role, still shines brightest). At the end of “A Quiet Place Part II” the door is definitely left open for more (and, crucially, different) stories to be told within this framework. But we wouldn’t mind a direct “Quiet Place” sequel every few years. That family is just too lovable! It’s hard not to worry about them.
1. “A Quiet Place” (2018)
Talk about a little movie that could. “A Quiet Place” wasn’t on anybody’s radar. But the $17 million horror thriller, based around an ingenious concept involving murderous aliens alerted to sound, wound up making more than $341 million at the box office. Not only did “A Quiet Place” smartly establish itself as a franchise but it also launched the directorial career of John Krasinski. (He technically made his two previous films in “The Hollars” and “Brief Interviews With Hideous Men.” But the less said about those, the better.)
Everything about “A Quiet Place” just works – the fact that the family, led by Krasinski and his real-life bride Emily Blunt, has a deaf daughter, turning their shared knowledge of sign language into a superpower; making Blunt pregnant and turning childbirth into an even more white-knuckle experience; envisioning the family’s world as one full of soft fabrics and hushed expression, turning something like an exposed nail into a dangerous world-destroyer. It’s all just so beautiful and composed and deeply felt. (The fact that the family had lost a child also makes the horror of the world more personal and pointed and real.)
“A Quiet Place” took us all by surprise, with Krasinski imaging a visually complex, richly detailed world and emphasizing that the togetherness of family can triumph over just about anything. Including a marauding alien force that’s out to conquer mankind. It is just as good as it was the day it was first released.
