There are prequels and then there are prequels and then there are prequels the unnecessariness of which is just astonishing. The 2018 movie A Quiet Place is a science fiction horror movie in which people have to live very very quietly because the world has been invaded by alien monsters that seem really into killing humans. Also they have incredibly good hearing. I have never seen this movie or its sequel, because I am a big baby, but all the same I understand the premise.
But that’s not enough, I guess, because now we have A Quiet Place: Day One, which will explain what led to this situation. What happened is that big aliens arrived and killed people! Why must we spend a whole movie explaining this! Why must we be shown Lupita Nyong’o carrying a cat that she is then not carrying in the very next scene!
Listen, some of us are very sensitive to bad things happening to cats. And this cat is apparently named Frodo. Please don’t hurt Frodo.
A Quiet Place originally came from the mind of writer-director-star John Krasinski, who co-developed Day One’s story with the prequel’s writer-director, Michael Sarnoski (Pig). There is no summary with the film’s trailer other than, “Discover why our world went quiet,” a question which the original movies answered sufficiently. Nyong’o stars as a woman named Sam, who is visiting New York City (with her cat?). When the world goes to hell, she reluctantly teams up with a dude named Eric (Stranger Things’ Joseph Quinn) and, as we see in the trailer, eventually connects also with Djimon Hounsou, who was in A Quiet Place Part II. Denis O’Hare (True Blood) and Alex Wolff (Hereditary) are also trapped in this alien hell.
A Quiet Place: Day One is in theaters June 28th. If you need a refresher on the many problems with the previous films, Leah Schnelbach is here to help.
