A Quiet Place : Day One follows the story of Sammy who fights for survive even as the city of New York is invaded by aliens who hunt by sound. The story here follows the same theme of horror as was seen in the previous two films but straight up, a striking feature of the drama was its setting. The city of New York had an eerie look to it and was a stark contrast to the isolated farm that the drama did unfold in the first two films. The latter was more in the intimate space while the former was more of a community driven horror, something that added a different dimension to the drama this time around. The idea of having to survive with a bunch of people did throw up a different set of challenge here, in a story that was impressive albeit a few flaws. The flaws though did lay with the origin story itself wherein the origin of these aliens wasn’t quite showcased, nor was it seamlessly linked to the previous parts(given that this was a prequel). Instead, the screenplay standing at 90 odd minutes did focus on the survival traits of the protagonist with an underlying layer of emotions that weirdly worked well with the unfolding events of horror.

The drama is quick to introduce the protagonist Sammy, terminally ill and suffering from cancer and almost going through the motions through an extended period of grief, who is coaxed by her nurse cum friend to make a trip to New York. After a brief stop, the writers get straight to the conflict featuring an attack on the city of New York by a bunch of aliens that hunt via sound. Here, I must say that there was space to introduce the origin story of the aliens too, on why they were sensitive to sound but it remained a lost opportunity. What the writers do well though is showcase the events of gore surrounding the protagonist in a rather effective manner by creating a tense ambience of fear.

I would like to also point out that there was a stark difference in the tone of the drama here as compared to its previous two films. The first two films had an atmospheric horror that builds on the tension originating from the extended periods of silence. And while the periods of silence are still in tact here, the tone is that of a conventional horror with quite a few jump scares along the way. The good news though is that the jump scares are nicely integrated in the drama while not losing site of the fear that originates from the silence. This, even as the protagonist manoeuvres through the streets while being partnered by an unassuming character who is introduced at the halfway mark.

The transition between the second and the third act focuses on the dynamics between the duo even as both flawed personalities complete each other in indifferent ways. There is a searing undercurrent of emotions that are nicely tapped into and add depth to the proceedings from an emotional standpoint, even as the duo continue to share quietly intimate moments by simply staying in one. This leads to a final act which is decent on paper but doesn’t exactly have the kind of a knockout impact particularly with respect to the final face-off that simply felt a little abrupt. Another gripe being that there wasn’t any effort made by the writers to link the events here to the previous films which would have completed the story in a certain manner. But overall, the screenplay does remain effective in capitalizing on the tensions built through the course of the narrative.