'A Quiet Place: Day One' is a riveting return to the day Earth went silent (review)

Sometimes when you have a hankering for a hot slice of pizza, nothing else will do, even in the face of a sudden infestation of ferocious extraterrestrial visitors hitching rides on an unholy hail of Earth-bound asteroids to wreak havoc on this world for seemingly no good reason at all.

And such is the case in director Michael Sarnoski's ("Pig") impressive third entry in "The Quiet Place" sci-fi horror universe, where we witness a medical patient named Sam (Lupita Nyong'o) and her therapy cat named Frodo on a bus trip to Brooklyn when a growing crescendo of sirens, helicopters, airbursts and explosions herald the arrival of flaming space rocks showering down on Manhattan. Thus begins the silencing of human society on a grand global scale.

Paramount Pictures' "A Quiet Place: Day One" might technically be categorized as a prequel due to its reversing the clock on the franchise's timeline to reveal how the horror began, but it feels much more like a tangential self-contained story told with intimacy, heart, and horrendous alien beasts all listening for the slightest peep.

It's based on a tight screenplay written by Sarnoski from a story by John Krasinski, who co-wrote, directed, and co-starred in the first two films, 2018's "A Quiet Place" and 2021's "A Quiet Place: Part II." This nerve-jangling spinoff returns to the inciting incident that was shown briefly in the Little League baseball game prologue to "A Quiet Place: Part II," when absolute chaos erupts after sightless killer creatures equipped with armored exoskeletons and ultrasonic hearing invade our planet. 

These "Death Angels" are the marauding monstrosities of the franchise that react to the slightest noise with murderous intent as seen in the first two installments featuring the Abbott family and their survival plight in upstate New York.

Here in "Day One" we stick with a tiny handful of characters that also includes a fantastic sensitive performance from "Stranger Things"' Joseph Quinn, portraying Sam's tagalong partner Eric, as they make their way from one borough to the next in search of Patsy's Pizza in Harlem. Quinn's British law school student character is a revelation of subtle craft and deep-drawn emotionality.

Frodo, the apparently meow-less cat, makes for an intriguing addition to the survival duo, and the bond they all create as they negotiate an alien invasion makes for a brisk 99-minutes of compelling drama and memorable, touching moments.

Along the way there are many chilling images to ingest: Rowdy stampeding herds of "Death Angels," abandoned streets littered with a damp quagmire of ravaged bloody bodies, long-limbed aliens perched on skyscrapers like nightmarish gargoyles, military jets streaking across a twilight sky to target Manhattan bridges, and a scene-stealing extraterrestrial feast of pod-like mutant "pumpkins."

Sarnoski's "Day One" also carries with it a disturbing 911-vibe after the Twin Towers fell and shocked pedestrians were staggering around in numb confusion, coated in ash and dust trying to comprehend what had just occurred to upend their existence. Its immersive soundscape (super loud in IMAX!) amplifies the hand-held camerawork and extreme close-ups favored by the filmmakers and conjures up a definite sense of suspense, tension and mounting dread.

Djimon Hounsou makes two stalwart appearances in the beginning and the end of the film, reprising his role of Henri, the Man on the Island in "A Quiet Place: Part II," which tightens the narrative strings a bit by linking it to the greater saga. But this is really a standout two-person showcase by Nyong'o and Quinn, playing two rare souls connecting under the most dire of circumstances to breathe hope and life into each other for the betterment of both. 

We do learn more about the physiology of the galactic intruders courtesy of ILM VFX Supervisor Malcolm Humphreys ("The Mandalorian," "The Batman," "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker") and his expert team of visual wizards who stepped up the realism in this project by revealing the creatures' heavy hoofed feet, Demogorgon-style craniums, thick alligator-like skin flaps and a deadly maw of sharp serrated teeth.

One special note of congratulations to composer Alexis Grapsas, who previously worked with Sarnoski on "Pig," for his magnificent, melodic and menacing music he created for "Day One" as it's without a doubt one of the finest scores heard this year.

And final kudos to ace production designer Simon Bowles and acclaimed cinematographer Pat Scola for bringing this widespread apocalyptic event to the screen in all its raw reality for Sarnoski's most admirable directorial effort.

"A Quiet Place: Day One" opens wide in theaters on Friday, June 28.