A Review of A Quiet Place: Day One

I wanted an image I feel encapsulated the film experience and the oblivion of this photo describes my feelings perfectly.

CAUTION: This movie may cause Panic Attacks

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CAUTION: This movie may cause Panic Attacks 😱🙀😱

So my friend Jonnetta and I wanted to see a movie. We both have the Alamo Drafthouse movie passes and wanted to use them together to watch a movie. We had a few options but decided to cross off all of them and decided to check out A Quiet Place: Day One. We didn't do this because we like scary movies (we are scaredy cats), we did it because we wanted to support Lupita Nyong'o. Jonnetta and I were going to see a scary movie together to celebrate the amazing career of a beautiful actress whose work we enjoy. This was not a bad decision, but it turned out to be a horrifying one.

Yikes! What's A Quiet Place: Day One even about?

Before I get into this, I've never seen any "A Quiet Place" movies. Neither I nor Jonnetta is a fan of horror films. I can enjoy some comedy horror flicks from time to time. They have to blend in a lot of wacky hijinks along with the scary parts. So my speed is more Beetlejuice, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, or Little Shop of Horrors. For the most part, I leave scary movies alone.

Sigh... but not this time.

So this movie starts with Sam (Lupita Nyong'o) in hospice care. She's at a clinic people go to when they know they're going to die. She delivers a beautiful poem about how the place and all her hospice compatriates are shit. It was very funny. This is where the comedy in A Quiet Place: Day One ends.

Sam's hospice nurse Ruben (Alex Wolff) wants to take everyone out for a show. Sam only agrees to accompany him if he takes her to get a slice of New York Pizza. He agrees. Sam grabs her service cat whom she walks with a leash, puts on her pain medication patch of Fentanyl, gets in the hospice bus, and off they go.

The show they go to features an old man slowly walking to the center stage. He pulls out marionettes. I was already too scared to understand what this scene meant, but it was captivating to watch. The puppet moves around and fake drinks water. It's face doesn't change as it's a marionette.

Something upsets Sam and she leaves the show to walk around outside. Ruben follows her and Sam gets really serious about getting her pizza. She knows she's going to die soon. Give the woman her damn pizza! Unfortunately, an evacuation call is blasted out all over the city. Government trucks and helicopters are passing by. Sam looks up to see flaming meteors falling. It's a beautiful shot. Ruben tells Sam she ain’t getting no damn pizza. Sam’s mad, but she gets on the bus just before monsters with incredible hearing start murdering every human they come across.

White dust, bodies sliding away, blood everywhere, and if you say anything or walk too loud or scream, these creatures will stalk and murder you. That's why it's a quiet place. If you make too much noise, you and everyone you’re with will horror slide into oblivion. This is the part where I must start closing my eyes when the movie gets too intense. It gets a lot more intense from here.

Sometimes you must cover up the beauty.

Sam gets knocked out in the initial fracas with the dominant beings, but Djimon Honsou and his family can pull her back inside where the marionette show was. When Sam wakes up, her mouth is covered immediately. That’s why she hasn’t died yet. She learns quickly that nothing can be said.

That sounds pretty harsh…

A Quiet Place: Day One is harsh, but it's also quiet. There is a serenity in actors having to act with their bodies and not their voices. There are also graphic scenes that will make you want to claw the arm of the person you came with (I'm so sorry Jonnetta. I hope your arm has healed up).

It's hard watching so many people get unalived at the same time. I truly thought I'd have a panic attack and had to focus strongly on breathing to avoid it. I wanted to scream at some points too, but I stuck to the script of the movie being a quiet place. There is also a lot of chasing around a cat in between murders, but Sam is going to die. She needs that service cat to kiss and feel better.

Fun Fact: Lupita Nyong’o was afraid of cats before starting this film. Working with that cat helped get over that fear and she recently got a cat of her own.

Should I see A Quiet Place: Day One

It depends.

If you're into scary movies, you should check it out.

If you're prone to panic attacks you should stay far away. A Quiet Place: Day One opened my mind up to a new genre of film. I call them "Panic Attack Movies."

I'm still glad Jonnetta and I took the chance and gritted our teeth to see this movie despite our fear. I had a "we survived this" experience when it was over. Perhaps that is why people who love horror movies love them so much. Maybe that's the crack in the shell of these films. Perhaps horror fans want to chase that feeling they had the first time so they keep coming back looking for a new rush. I don't know. I tapped out of scary movies after I caught The Blair Witch Project. It might seem stupid now, but we thought that happened in real life!

So if you like scary movies, give this one a shot.

If you're a lil' snot nose baby and don't like scawy movies, leave this film alone. Don't even watch it if you're hanging out in a bar. Your insides may try to crawl out of your body.