At one time horror films were the last item on the list of genres for people to praise. Slowly but surely over the last few decades though horror films have risen in stature. SILENCE OF THE LAMBS garnered an Oscar win for best picture. Special effects makeup finally got noticed. CGI has made once impossible creations possible. And actual stars are making movies in the genre.
In 2018 a small horror film was released with two major stars involved. John Krasinski both starred in and directed the film which also featured his wife Emily Blunt. The movie was tense and near silent. It lived up to its name A QUIET PLACE. Now two years later they both return for a second feature that gives us more to go by. It’s a thrill ride that will grab you out of your seat, even at home.
A QUIET PLACE PART 2 opens with day 1 of what happened, giving us more than we got in the first film. Small town USA and families are all at the baseball field watching their kids play ball. This includes the Abbott family: mother Evelyn, dad Lee and kids hearing impaired Regan (Millicent Simmonds) and Marcus (Noah Jupe) and the baby. As the game moves on there is a sudden loud explosive noise and a dark shadow crosses the sky. Everyone runs for their cars and as they begin to try and get out of town the creatures begin descending on them.
Move on to day 474. This is the point where the last film left off. With Lee now dead the rest of them must regroup and figure out what to do next. Their home is in flames and they have nowhere to turn. Evelyn gathers up her family and they set out to find out if there were any other survivors. Gathering up what supplies they can as well as a makeshift amplifier that Regan uses with her hearing aid to send out a squelch that hurts the creatures, they set off into a land unknown.
The group travels along fine at first but upon squeezing through a fence Evelyn accidentally sets off an alarm, a group of hanging bottles on the fence. She tells the family to run for the nearby building. On the way Marcus steps on a bear trap and the pain is so intense he can’t help but scream. Someone is watching them but we don’t know who. Regan sets off her loudspeaker and Evelyn shoots the creature closest to them.
They continue into the building and the mysterious person grabs them and leads them to a location inside that is safe. It is then that Evelyn recognizes their benefactor, Emmett (Cillian Murphy), Lee’s best friend. Emmett tells them they can stay the night but no longer.
That night though Marcus and Regan pick up a radio station transmitting. Their home was too far away to pick up the reception. This gives them hope that there are others alive still. Regan comes up with the idea that if she can reach this radio station they could broadcast the feedback she gets from her earpiece and weaponized it against the creatures. She tells this to Marcus and the next day sets out on her own to reach the station.
From here the film splits the survivors into two groups. One is Regan and Emmett who tracks her down to help her and the other has Evelyn leaving Marcus with the baby to search for medical supplies. One of the most amazing sequences takes place when both come across danger in their paths and the suspense of one group’s predicament is compounded by the same thing happening at the same time to the other. It’s a fantastic plot device.
This move does a far better job of creating a natural feeling of terror in the story being told. It’s great that we get at least a little of the backstory. The acting here is amazing especially from Simmonds who does a superb job. Krasinski shows that he can handle himself in the director’s chair as well as he can in front of the camera. Everyone turns in a great performance here.
The movie can be found everywhere right now from your local
Redbox to rental on your cable stations or even free on Paramount +. I can’t
recommend this one highly enough. It is a thrill ride that will have wondering
when the silence will be broken next and what dangers that will result in. And
if that weren’t enough it has a nice twist at the end. This one is worth going
out of your way to watch.
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