'A Quiet Place: Day One' Is a Captivating Return to the Day the Earth Fell Silent (Review)

Sometimes when you’re craving a hot slice of pizza, nothing else will do, even in the face of a sudden infestation of ferocious alien visitors being carried by a hail of asteroids towards Earth to wreak havoc on this world for no apparent good reason.

This is the case of the impressive third installment of the science fiction and horror universe of Michael Sarnoski (“Pig”), in which we witness a bus trip between Sam (Lupita Nyong’o) and her cat therapist, Frodo, in Brooklyn, when a crescendo of sirens, helicopters, air bursts and explosions announces the arrival of flaming space rocks that fall on Manhattan. Thus begins the silence of human society on a large scale.

Paramount Pictures’ “A Quiet Place: Day One” could technically be classified as a prequel due to reversing the clock on the franchise’s timeline to reveal how the horror began, but it feels much more like a Self-contained tangential story told with intimacy. , the heart and horrible alien beasts listening for the slightest beep.

It’s based on a tight screenplay written by Sarnoski from a story by John Krasinski, who co-wrote, directed and starred in the first two films, 2018’s “A Quiet Place” and 2021’s “A Quiet Place: Part II.” The angsty spinoff revisits the inciting incident briefly shown in the Little League baseball game prologue of “A Quiet Place: Part II,” when absolute chaos erupts after mindless killer creatures equipped with armored exoskeletons and ultrasonic hearing invade our planet.

These “Death Angels” are the franchise’s marauding monstrosities who react to the slightest noise with murderous intent, as seen in the first two installments featuring the Abbott family and their predicament in upstate New York.

a man and a woman huddle in fear

Djimon Hounsou and Lupita Nyong’o in “A Quiet Place: Day One”. (Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

Here in “Day One,” we stick to a handful of characters, including “Stranger Things”’ Joseph Quinn, who plays Sam’s partner Eric, as they navigate their way from neighborhood to neighborhood in search of Patsy’s Pizza in Harlem. Quinn’s British law student character is a revelation of subtlety and deep emotionality.

Frodo, the seemingly meowless cat, is an intriguing addition to the survival duo, and the bond they all form as they negotiate an alien invasion makes for a lively 99 minutes of gripping drama and memorable, touching moments.

a woman in a yellow sweater and a hat holds a cat

Lupita Nyong’o and Frodon in “A Quiet Place: Day One”. (Photo credit: Paramount Pictures)

Along the way, there are plenty of frightening images to ingest: flocks of stampeding “Death Angels,” abandoned streets littered with a damp quagmire of ravaged and bloodied bodies, spindly-limbed aliens perched on skyscrapers like nightmarish gargoyles, military planes streaking through twilight skies to target the Manhattan bridges, and an alien feast of mutated pod-like “pumpkins” that steal the show.

Sarnoski’s “Day One” also evokes 9/11, after the Twin Towers fell, and the shocked pedestrians staggering in confusion, covered in ash and dust, trying to make sense of what had just happened and upended their lives. Its immersive soundscape (super loud in IMAX!) amplifies the filmmakers’ favored handheld camerawork and extreme close-ups, and evokes a definite sense of suspense, tension, and mounting dread.

Djimon Hounsou makes two notable appearances at the beginning and end of the film, reprising his role as Henri, the man from the island in A Quiet Place Part II, which tightens the narrative a bit by connecting it to the larger saga. But this is truly a remarkable duo from Nyong’o and Quinn, playing two rare souls who come together in the most trying circumstances to breathe hope and life into each other for the greater good of both.

a man and a woman sitting in a restaurant with broken windows

Joseph Quinn and Lupita Nyong’o in “A Quiet Place: Day One.” (Photo credit: Paramount Pictures)

We learn more about the physiology of galactic intruders from ILM VFX supervisor Malcolm Humphreys (“The Mandalorian,” “The Batman,” “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”) and his expert team of visual wizards who have stepped up realism in this project by revealing the creatures’ heavy-hoofed feet, Demogorgon-style skulls, thick alligator-like flaps of skin, and a deadly maw of sharp jagged teeth.

A special note of congratulations to composer Alexis Grapsas, who previously worked with Sarnoski on “Pig,” for his beautiful, melodic and menacing music for “Day One” as it is without a doubt one of the most beautiful scores heard this year.

And a final tip of the hat to production design ace Simon Bowles and acclaimed cinematographer Pat Scola for bringing this massive apocalyptic event to the screen in all its raw reality for Sarnoski’s most admirable directorial effort.

“Quietly: Day 1” hits theaters on Friday, June 28.