Mini Film Review – A Quiet Place: Day One

I have just seen A Quiet Place: Day One; and it was weirdly beautiful! Directed by Michael Sarnoski, and starring Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, and Djimon Hounsou; A Quiet Place: Day One is an apocalyptic horror film, serving as a spin-off/prequel to A Quiet Place. Set during the first few days of the alien invasion that sends the world silent, the film follows a terminally ill cancer patient, as she searches for the one thing she wants more than anything else…a pizza! I am not making it up, it’s a film about someone who spends the end of the world, looking for a pizza! Going into this film I was personally hoping for a bit more explanation into the series’ set-up. Yes, it shows how shouty the world is, and how suddenly it goes quiet, but I was hoping for an explantion on where the creatures came from, or why they chose earth, especially as it’s well known, that “In space, no one can hear you scream“. I also spent a large portion of the film looking at the lead character’s wonderful cat, and secretly hoped no-one was going to use it as a scapegoat. And then there’s the moment where it looks like the film is ripping it’s story straight from I Am Legend. But all of these things melt away by the film’s final act. Because at this point, it’s no longer a horror film, or an apocalyptic film; as it transcends into an incredibly beautiful film. It shows a character, whose own world is ending, and so won’t let the actual end of the world, from ruining what she wants to do. It becomes a film showing that even if the world is ending, you don’t have to stop being you, or let it stop you from living life to the full. Of course it briefly turns it back around for one last edge of your seat chase, but then brings it all back, and at the same time, causing tears to fall from your eyes. It’s strangely weird, how this horror film, is also such a beautiful, tearjerking film too!