A QUIET PLACE DAY ONE Review — It Sneaks Up On You
Lisa Johnson Mandell’s A Quiet Place Day One review says this franchise prequel leaves even the most cantankerous filmgoers speechless and breathless.
A Quiet Place Day One starts out quietly, unexpectedly and brilliantly in a hospice, where the protagonist Sam (played by the outrageously talented, Yale educated, Lupita Nyong’o) is suffering from what appears to be stage four cancer.
She and her fellow residents at the facility board a bus for nearby New York City to see a stage production and then go get pizza, at Sam’s insistence. She wants what could be her last pizza to be the best.
But the show, and the pizza plans, are violently interrupted by the first attack of the aliens who plague the franchise. They cannot see anything, but they can hear everything, even the smallest sigh, and they attack swiftly, efficiently and lethally.
Sam is caught in the city and in silence she, her support cat, and later an unlikely companion, team up to escape from the aliens, and eat New York pizza from her childhood favorite restaurant, for what they are certain will be the last time.
A Quiet Place Day One review — Massively riveting
Yes, I did mention that this is a horror film with aliens, and that may be a bit off-putting to those of you who are not fans of the genre.
But don’t automatically write it off. Director/writer Michael Sarnoski, who also helmed the enigmatic Nicolas Cage starrer Pig, has done magnificent work in this sci-fi thriller, and his skill would be admired in any genre.
The tension and suspense are deliciously overwhelming. I had my hands on my face, a la Munch’s The Scream, for almost the entire duration. But I couldn’t make a sound, because I was so inside the film I was afraid the aliens would come for us all if I so much as breathed loudly.
Now if you’re not familiar with the Quiet Place franchise—two Quiet Place films have been released previously—this is the ideal place for you to start. It’s actually a prequel of a prequel, so there is no backstory to catch up on, no character details to remember.
The best order to watch them in is: 1. A Quiet Place Day One; 2. A Quiet Place; 3. A Quiet Place Part II. John Krasinski wrote, directed, produced and starred in the latter two. He was a producer on the latest.
A Quiet Place Day One is the ideal horror film for those who don’t like horror films… and also for those who love them. If you only see one scary movie per year, or every two years, A Quiet Place Day One is your best bet.
Rated PG-13
1 Hour 40 Minutes
If this A Quiet Place Day One review encourages you to sneak out to the cineplex and see it, get times and tickets at Fandango.com.
Lisa Johnson Mandell’s A Quiet Place Day One review says this franchise prequel leaves even the most cantankerous filmgoers speechless and breathless.
