‘A Quiet Place’: how one of the most original horrors in years was consumed by the machine
Originality only has a finite shelf in Hollywood, especially when it comes to a breakout box office hit. John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place was without a doubt one of the most original, inventive, daring, and immersive horror movies in recent years, but because it was a success, it was swiftly consumed by the franchise machine.
One of the most incredible theatrical experiences in recent memory, audiences were too scared to even rustle a crisp packet or munch on their popcorn during the many periods of extended silence in the first film, with even the slightest sound jarring in the midst of such deafening nothingness. There hadn’t been a mainstream movie that demanded so much quiet in quite some time, making it hit that much harder when the fearsome creatures struck.
An immensely profitable exercise, A Quiet Place hoovered up $341million at the global box office on a $17m budget, but jump scares were only a fractional reason why it became such a word-of-mouth sensation. The ingenious conceit of monsters that hunt by sound was inspired, and Emily Blunt’s formidable central performance was so good that she’s the only person since 2008 to have won a Screen Actors Guild Award for ‘Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role’ that didn’t go on to win the Academy Award. In fact, she wasn’t even nominated.
Elemental by its very nature and using a nerve-shredding genre film to explore the anxieties of motherhood, A Quiet Place stood out in a sea of interchangeable studio-backed horrors and was a breath of fresh air in a stagnant world of blockbusters that are always planning two instalments ahead. However, it inevitably became a victim of its own success when Paramount tallied up the profit margins.
On the plus side, it hasn’t jumped the shark quite yet, although that day may yet come. Sequel Part II was lacking in the freshness and intrigue of its predecessor, but by expanding the world and effectively acting as the Aliens to the opener’s Alien, it was a worthy continuation. Naturally, because every lucrative franchise has to explain its backstories and origins to a meanderingly unnecessary extent, the next stop was prequel town.
Nobody was really crying out for the unexplained alien invasion to be explained as the backdrop to another entry in the series, but A Quiet Place: Day One is nonetheless scheduled to hit cinemas in June 2024. Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn make for a solid central duo, but one concern is that the trailers and promotional spots have made it look – on an aesthetic level, at least – like the biggest Quiet Place yet.
Bigger doesn’t always mean better, but clearly, having had its fill of intimate, self-contained stories that hint at a wider world without diving right into it, the danger of an expositional overload looms large. That’s not to say it won’t live up to expectations, but with no Krasinski penning the screenplay or wielding the megaphone and with no Blunt among the ensemble, it remains to be seen if it can match its illustrious forebears.
Writer and director Michael Sarnoski did helm Nicolas Cage’s Pig, so he’s clearly a talent on the rise, but there are no guarantees third time will mark the charm. A Quiet Place Part III has already been confirmed and is eying a 2025 release. It speaks volumes of Hollywood’s modern IP obsession that one of the most original mainstream stories to be told in the horror genre for years now finds itself retroactively serving as the launchpad to a franchise that’s going to span at least four entries and probably more.
