As a HUGE fan of A Quiet Place, I was eagerly awaiting this next installment. I wanted to be back in that world, as dismal and scary and AAAHHHH! as it was. And I wanted to see how Evelyn, Regan, Marcus, and the new baby are faring after (SPOILER ALERT!!) losing Lee so horribly, and after discovering a way to defeat the monsters. That I got to step back to Day 1 first, to see how it all began, was even more than I could have hoped for, and I have to say, the highlight of this sequel which, though still full of jump scares and a couple of interesting plot developments, was not as amazing as it could have been.
Yes, Day 1 brings us back to normal life and how quickly it can change. The Abbotts are all together at a little league game when a weird thing appears in the cloudy sky. En masse, the crowd all decides to head home, but does so casually. Um, okay. What happens next is a masterful sequence of horror movie magic, full of jump scares, suspense, edge-of-your-seat thrills, and fantastic special effects. Then, when we emerge, we are right back where the first installment left off (literally). Having defeated the immediate threat, Evelyn and the kids leave their burning farm in search of other survivors. We are forced to accept a coincidence designed out of convenience or mysogynistic scriptwriting or–benefit of the doubt–necessity for the next installment. As monsters lurk, bad decisions are made all around, injuries add up, other not-so-nice survivors are encountered and dealt with, and finally, a glimmer of hope is discovered, suspense does build, though nothing like it did in QP1.
Bottom line: the storyline kind of stalls (Will there be a QP3? If so, this was not much of a set-up for it); the Abbott actors—kids included—are all excellent; I was still hoping for more (I think what was missing this time around were the up-close personal almost-attacks a la the birth-in-the-bathtub scene from QP1); and finally, you should still see it. Just don’t scream out loud.
- Top Scare: Monster-related
- Heartbeats: Beginning: 4 out of 5; Rest: 2 1/2 out of 5
- Gore Factor: 2 out of 5
- Scare Factor: 3 out of 5
- Recommended for: 13 and up