The dystopian world in which civilians are forced to live under difficult and unnatural circumstances in order to stay alive has once again returned to out screens, but this time in a much different environment as director, Michael Sarnoski, takes us all the way back to the day the world went quiet.
In 2018, John Krasinski add a whole new realm of terror to the horror movie scene with 'A Quiet Place', and since then, what was once an interesting concept for a horror movie and supposed 'love letter' to Krasinski's children has now spiralled into a franchise that is taking over the cinematic horror scene.
Although Krasinski is known to be involved in the early stages of pre-production for this movie, the sole creator of the first two films in the franchise felt it was necessary to take a step away from the director's chair for the third instalment, allowing Sarnoski to take the reigns and handle a heavy-budget production.
Fans of cinema may be aware of Sarnoski's recent filmography if they witnessed the director's independent feature film debut 'Pig' in 2021 which stars Nicholas Cage as a truffle hunter living alone in the Oregon forest, desperately in search for his recently kidnapped pig.
Headlining this film is Academy Award winner, Lupita Nyong'o and the next live-action Johnny Storm, Joseph Quinn. Both actors provide us with high-level performances within their respective roles in this movie, and certainly make a claim for themselves to be associated with some of the best performances we have seen in the horror genre in recent times.
The dramatic work once laid out by the likes of Krasinski, his wife Emily Blunt and also Cillian Murphy across the first two instalments in the 'Quiet Place' franchise have certainly been met and maybe even surpassed by Nyong'o and Quinn in this film.
Nyong'o serves as the terminally ill cancer patient who's only aim is to stumble across a serving of 'Patsy's Pizza' as madness before her unfolds in order to reconnect with her childhood days before her inevitable death. Whereas Quinn portrays the frightened Law student who's only intention is to stay alive long enough to evacuate New York City for what he believes will see the end of this catastrophic setting he has found himself in.
One thing I will say about this movie that plays in it' favour is that it follows the same trend to it's predecessors in regards to the length of it's runtime. A duration of 99 minutes is music to the ears of any movie fan that likes to be in and out of the cinema as quick as possible, whilst having the full storyline of a film reveal itself before them.
With the addition of this movie, the 'A Quiet Place' franchise now has an average run time of just 95 minutes across all three instalments. Meaning that both Krasinski and Sarnoski feel as though their story can be told within just over the hour and a half mark and not feel the need for any unnecessary time wasting.
It certainly feels as though Sarnoski felt the need to increase the number of jump scares we witness throughout the franchise with this movie. As someone who irregularly gets frightened by horror movies, more specifically through the use of jump scares, I must admit that there was a small handful of occasions that I found myself taken back by some of the creative techniques Sarnoski utilised to raise the heart rate of his audience members.
As for the storyline that the threatening jump scares we have the pleasure of witnessing revolve around, the dynamic between the characters of Eric and Sam serves as enjoyable entertainment. Both with different motives and likely intentions in mind, but both with a hungry desire of staying alive long enough to make it out of Manhattan.
Much like the previous two 'A Quiet Place' films, the storyline isn't too deep thick-layered for the casual movie-watcher to fail to follow. As you can imagine, this film is very much what we have the pleasure of witnessing in the trailer. But a 99 minute run time along with the increased scale of heart-raising jump scares, 'A Quiet Place: Day One' serves as a welcome and purposeful addition to the horror franchise.
PrimeTime Films Score: C+
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