A Quiet Place: Day One

"Hear how it all began."

2024 1h 40m EN

👍

6.6

SOLID

★6.6TMDB · 3,612

HorrorScience FictionThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

As New York City is invaded by alien creatures who hunt by sound, a woman named Sam fights to survive with her cat.

“Hear how it all began.”

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Cast

Lupita Nyong'o
Samira
Joseph Quinn
Eric
Alex Wolff
Reuben
Djimon Hounsou
Henri
Eliane Umuhire
Zena
Takunda Khumalo
Osahar
Alfie Todd
Max
Avy-Berry Worrall
Young Sister

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Michael Sarnoski
Writers: Michael Sarnoski, Michael Sarnoski, John Krasinski
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $67M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.9× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 2 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Michael Sarnoski, shot by Pat Scola. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Alexis Grapsas. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Andrew Mondshein shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Lupita Nyong'o and Joseph Quinn and Alex Wolff carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Hear how it all began.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Michael Sarnoski directs. Pat Scola behind the camera. Alexis Grapsas scores. Andrew Mondshein cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $67M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
2Made its money back 3.9× over at the box office.
3Released 2 years ago.
4Directed by Michael Sarnoski, shot by Pat Scola. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Alexis Grapsas. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Andrew Mondshein shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Lupita Nyong'o and Joseph Quinn and Alex Wolff carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Hear how it all began.".
9IMDB entry: tt13433802 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10The top-rated still from this film on TMDB has multiple community votes — a signal the frame composition stuck with viewers.
11Classified under 15 themes, including "escape", "cat", "alien", "prequel".

The technical file

Cinematography: Pat Scola
Original score: Alexis Grapsas
Editing: Andrew Mondshein
Production design: Simon Bowles
Costume design: Bex Crofton-Atkins
Makeup / hair: Poppy Clouter
VFX supervisor: Malcolm Humphreys
Sound: Skip Lievsay
Stunt coordinator: Paul Herbert
Runtime: 100 min · 1h 40m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $67,000,000
Box office: $261,907,653
Return: 391% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: A Quiet Place: Day One (2024)

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Michael Sarnoski

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-06-28
★ 6/10
"Sam" (Lupita Nyong'o) is living at a residential home when a group of them take a day out to the big city. She only agrees to go if she can have pizza, but that opportunity is soon kiboshed when their minder "Reuben" (Alex Wolff) tries to herd them back home after a city-wide alert is called. Things are falling from the sky - and these things are hungry. With carnage ensuing, she and her cat manage to find refuge in the theatre they were attending but with even the slightest of sounds attracting their foes, she realises that heading to Harlem for a Pepperoni from Patsy's might be her best option. Walking silently, she encounters the dazed "Eric" (Joseph Quinn) who has come from the UK to study law in the USA and has ended up with much more than he bargained for. Initially reluctant, she agrees to walk with him and gradually a bond develops as the environment gradually and dangerously disintegrates before them. Luckily, the monsters can't swim - so perhaps they can try to make it to the water? Obviously there's not a great deal of dialogue here, so the accumulating sense of (limited) menace is built by two actors who are adequate but who don't really have enough to work with to make this stand out. As ever, the lengths people will go to to save their pets astonishes me. Danger everywhere and yet both feel the need to risk life and limb for a moggy! Bizarre. It's difficult at the best of times to get much traction from prequels, and Michael Sarnoski doesn't really manage to develop the characters or the story beyond this ninety minutes of stand alone cinema that really has little to do with the other, far better, films from earlier in this strand. It's watchable enough, but nothing remarkable. Pity.
Brent Marchant2024-06-29
★ 8/10
Smart horror films are one movie genre of which not nearly enough offerings are produced. These pictures are proof positive that edgy, spooky stories can be successfully made without having to kill off the cast or engage in spectacles of gratuitous gore. The works of filmmakers like Jordan Peele and Alex Garland exemplify this, as do the three releases in this impressive franchise. And this latest entry is, without a doubt, the best of the lot. “Day One” draws upon the mythology introduced in the series’ first two films, but it takes matters in a new, more insightful direction and does so, ironically, by way of a prequel going back to the origin of this gripping, ongoing saga. What separates this film from what preceded it, however, is that it presents yet another story in the franchise but from an entirely new angle, with new characters, a new setting, and a new, more profound, more nuanced focus. Instead of small-town America, where the first two pictures were set, this offering takes place in New York City, showing what happens when the Big Apple is attacked by the now-familiar aliens that hunt by way of sound as the means for finding their prey – and the measures that surviving humans must take to stay silent to keep from being spotted. The narrative principally follows a terminally ill poet (Lupita Nyong’o) living in hospice care who has become resigned to the fate of her impending death but now seeks to stay alive at all costs, most notably in helping a frightened Englishman living in Gotham (Joseph Quinn) and protecting her beloved (and adorable) comfort cat. These circumstances give her a new purpose at a time when she might have otherwise completely given up hope. In telling this story, the film also examines the perils of having to suddenly adjust to a “new normal” under unpredictable conditions, as well as the need for all of us to pull together in a united front in the wake of these trying circumstances. But there’s more to it than that, including metaphorical themes and symbolic imagery that truly make this more than just a horror film (and even more than just a smart horror movie at that). While it’s true the story meanders somewhat at times, it nevertheless presents viewers with a thoughtful tale, punctuated by excellent camera work, a fine soundtrack and a superb, award-worthy performance by Nyong’o. Even if you haven’t seen the two previous films in this series or have much interest in this genre, writer-director Michael Sarnoski’s second feature outing is well worth your time. It’s a smart, smart, smart film that rises far above what one might typically expect from a horror flick – and one that will leave you with a lot more than just a few good scares upon exiting the theater.
MovieGuys2024-06-30
★ 4/10
Nothing special. My first and enduring reaction to A Quiet Place Day One. Perhaps the biggest shortcoming is rather flat, indifferent, cynical characterisations. "Everything is shit...." According to the main character. Perhaps this reflects the New York way of being? Big city rat races and so on? Suffice to say, it doesn't work. What made the first two films such a success was a family dynamic with people who were close and cared deeply about each other. You could empathise with them, buy into their plight, when faced with an alien other. Beyond this the horror/actions scenes are alright but again, because the vibe is wrong, the film just feels like its going through the motions. Its been done before yes, so whats this film adding to the equation? As far as I can see, very little. In summary, a nice idea but the overall set up just doesn't work for me. The results "just another" horror action flick with a few jump scares to keep you on the edge of your seat and little else. If you are going to build on a successful franchise you need to look "hard" at what made those other films such as success and inject something that is original but also taps into those elements, in a meaningful way.