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A Quiet Place: Day One takes place over a few of those 24-hour periods, but starts by introducing us to Samara (Lupita Nyong’o – Little Monsters), who is terminally ill with cancer and lives in a hospice, with her cat, Frodo, on a leash, joking it’s service cat when she takes it into a shop that doesn’t normally allow pets.
Heading to a marionette show in a theatre with hospice worker Reuben (Alex Wolff – A Good Person), this is the last glimpse of normality they’re going to experience for some time, as the day-trip out – which would’ve included a trip for pizza – is cut short by the arrival of the aliens. Always, the aliens…
A Quiet Place Part II‘s Henri (Djimon Hounsou – Rebel Moon) pops up in this as a secondary character, and everyone quickly learns to stay quiet, including her cat!
However, if the aliens did turn up at my cinema, they’d head to the auditorium next door where, during A Quiet Place: Day One‘s muted moments, screen 15 was blaring Inside Out 2!
After the bridges are quickly destroyed by the army because they discover the aliens can’t get across water, the world we see in this is very much like The Last Of Us, and we get a completely ridiculous premise – not because of the aliens, but especially given how the cat rarely meows. Cats meow all day long, especially when they want food… which is all day long!
And how come a loud generator doesn’t attract the attention of the baddies, yet the accidental ripping of a shirt does?
Along the way, Samira – or Sam, as she prefers to be known – chances upon law school graduate Eric (Joseph Quinn), and they tag along together, as she has no-one else at that point. But because I watch too many films, I started taking time to work out when Frodo is occasionally real, and sometimes CGI – especially when it doesn’t flinch at the usual things in life where a cat would, particularly when it is forced to go into water. Any cat would go apeshit at that!
A Quiet Place: Day One is not as good as the first film, but better than the dull sequel. It’s reasonably well-acted, but too short to be of any real use. However, overall, this prequel does just feel almost exactly like what it is – the third episode in a four-part TV series, but on the big screen.
Finally, I thought Emily Blunt and family might’s popped up at one point, given how they’re in the teaser – and since it’s the kind of plot point that would be thrown in to a mainstream movie, but… they’re not. They’re nowhere to be seen.
Note: There is no mid- or post-credits scene in this film.
A Quiet Place: Day One is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order on 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD, ahead of its release date TBA.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 99 minutes
Release date: June 28th 2024
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 (Anamorphic Panavision)
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 5/10
Director: Michael Sarnoski
Producers: Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Brad Fuller, John Krasinski
Screenplay: Michael Sarnoski
Music: Alexis Grapsas
Cast:
Samira: Lupita Nyong’o
Eric: Joseph Quinn
Reuben: Alex Wolff
Henri: Djimon Hounsou
Zena: Eliane Umuhire
Osahar: Takunda Khumalo
Max: Alfie Todd
Marvin Monroe: Ronnie Le
Dwayne: Michael Roberts
Frodo: Schnitzel, Nico
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.