I am in an everlasting search for a great horror film. If you’ve read my reviews on other films thus far, you wouldn’t be remiss in thinking I’m one of these “A perfect 10 can’t exist” kind of guys. You’d be mostly right. I’m a true believer that there is always room for improvement, and I wholeheartedly believe “Done is better than perfect.” These two philosophies may seem counterintuitive, but that is far from the truth.
I have memories of watching certain horror movies when I was younger and being enthralled with the stories and the characters. Some of my favorite films are horror. I’m not going down the genre hairsplitting rabbit hole of suspense versus horror or gore vs psychological and a good horror movie doesn’t have to make me scared. I’ll throw a list of some of my favorite horror movies at the end and “A Quiet Place: Day One” made the cut.
The movie opens and we are met with a depressed and grumbly New Yorker named Samira (Lupita Nyong’o), and we find she is rightfully depressed and grumbly. She is dying and waiting out her final days with her cat Frodo in a hospice outside of New York City.
Reuben (Alex Wolff), her hospice nurse, attempts to lift her spirits by taking her and her cat to a marionette show along with other patients. She agrees on the condition of getting pizza. Once there, the show begins, but it isn’t long before chaos ensues. Screams, and lightning quick violence filters through the dust filling the air. She is knocked unconscious by an explosion, and wakes to fear and silence.
If you have watched the previous two films, “A Quiet Place” and “A Quiet Place: Part II,” then you’ll be familiar with the tension that comes in the following scenes punctuated by frantic escapes and if you haven’t I’ll not spoil it here. Suffice it to say director and writer Michael Sarnoski made some very smart choices throughout the film. It would have been easy for Sarnoski to fall into the same traps as so many other prequels and sequels. There are so many things that can go wrong.
I was delighted to watch an alien horror that could rise above splashy gore, and endless chases and exposition permeated by bad theory and indignant banter. Instead, what I saw was fear and horror without malice.
It sounds weird, but take a moment. How often does a character choose to make a last stand. They are so filled with rage at their situation; filled with malice toward their attackers that they decide to stop running and face almost certain doom, because they are just fed up. Sometimes, it’s self sacrifice to save others.
I won’t lie. It’s cool and freaking epic when done right. One of the most perfect examples is from “Aliens.” Private Vasquez is a badass to the very end. However, let’s stay honest and admit, a lot of times, this trope is a bit of an eye rolling macho fantasy. I want to be like “No, dumbass. You’re not going to stop the rampaging monster that wiped out all your friends.” It’s right up there with running upstairs to escape a killer, or having an impromptu sex scene between bouts of running for your life.
Day One doesn’t fall for it. The characters don’t have time for delusions of badassery. There are no big speeches or monologues and in their place is fear, suspense and sadness. Samira is dying, and only wants to revisit the places that made her happy in life. She is strong, but also frail. Nyong’o’s portrayal of this nuanced character was superb, far better than I thought possible in a horror flick prequel.
Her performance shone all the brighter when a lost and terrified Eric (Joseph Quinn) joins her. Rather than playing a strong and decisive hero, Quinn delivers a man faced with unthinkable terror, but still retains his empathy. Most horror films punish these character types. They are soft and get themselves killed helping others. Not here and I’m glad. Nor did the writers force a messy and unbelievable lust-filled love story into the plot. The characters are just … people caught up in an impossible situation filled with sadness, fear, and excitement.
The VFX were good and choices in lighting, and pacing were well balanced. Nothing about these facets were awe inspiring, but they didn’t need to be. We have been given the rare movie where the characters and the story shine brightest.
As stated at the start, I can’t be completely satisfied. I do have a gripe that bothered me throughout the entire movie. Samira has a service cat that sticks with her throughout the film. The way this cat is portrayed as behaving, is more unrealistic than the aliens. I know it seems like a dumb thing to complain about, but it’s distracting.
I won’t draw this out too much, but there is a particular scene where Eric and Samira are forced underwater, with the cat. They all survive the encounter shaken, wet and terrified … well except for the cat. He is cool as a cucumber. There is no way.
That animal would have squirmed and wailed and wriggled free long ago, and likely drawn blood from whoever was holding it. It’s difficult for pet owners to give their cats pills, let alone run from an alien. Ultimately the cat is a nice pet for Samira and adds some level of cuddly affection to the film, but not at all necessary. Every scene where the cat played some pivotal role could have easily been written differently. It’s fine, I guess, but had I been in a test audience during the editing process, my comment card would have read “Lose the cat. This isn’t a Disney film that needs superfluous cuteness for no reason. It’s dumb.” And I would have been promptly taken off the call back sheet.
Regardless, “A Quiet Place: Day One” is more than a regular suspenseful horror prequel. It’s well worth the price of a ticket. Go and enjoy this solid 9/10.
