🍿101: A Quiet Place: Day One
Free issue: Invasion of the guest reviewer (and aliens 👽) and the SP Film Club goes live! 🎬
“Lightening never strikes in the same place twice.”
~ War of the Worlds, 2005
A sequel for a prequel…
While this week’s issue of Salty Popcorn should be exclusive to paid subscribers,
of Toasted Fiction (who covered SP#66 last year) is taking the helm again this week — and it’s so good to have him back!Before we hand over to Chris, here’s a reminder that the SP Film Club is now live, which means premium subscribers can now vote on the film we’ll watch for July and the date we’ll meet on Zoom.
Free subscribers can access the page (in case you’re curious) but can’t vote on the film. To kick off this new feature, we’ll be revisiting one of the following classics:
Jurassic Park
Se7en
The Big Lebowski
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Click below to vote:
Now, over to Chris:
It’s an absolute pleasure to write again for Salty Popcorn; it feels like my very own sequel — and it’s a review of a prequel! Will this be the Empire Strikes Back or Back to the Future: Part II of movie reviews? Or will I fall the way of Independence Day: Resurgence, lots of potential but ultimately disappointing... hopefully the former.
Since my last review for Salty Popcorn, a lot has changed. My wife and I are having a baby boy, with the due date in November. This means I’ve been making a list of the films I look forward to sharing with my son when the time is right (Jurassic Park tops the list, of course). I’ve also been thinking about the films I may watch in the wee hours of the morning as I take my share of the night feeds — and realising I probably won’t be watching anything for a good while!
In preparing for our son’s arrival, I’ve been going through my parents’ attic in search of baby photos and stumbled over old cinema tickets that charted three of the first films I went to see when I was a wee bairn myself; the movies were Casper (which I’m told I ran out of during the bathroom sink scene), Toy Story and Jumanji. It was a cool thing to discover and it made me wonder if other people keep their old cinema tickets. If so, I’d love to hear which cinema tickets or movie stubs you’ve kept from any memorable trip to the cinema. Pop an answer in the comment below!
Anyway, with a trip down cinematic memory lane complete, it’s time to get on with the issue! Thanks once again to Tom for giving me the chance to write for Salty Popcorn; it’s great to have this opportunity. And a shout-out to last week’s guest editor,
for her stellar silver screen reviewing debut for Salty Popcorn!What’s Popping
Steve McQueen’s latest film, Blitz (starring Saoirse Ronan) is set to open 2024’s London Film Festival. Read more.
In more film festival news, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will open this year’s Venice Film Festival. Read more.
An adaptation of Stephen King’s short story, The Monkey with director Osgood Perkins (Longlegs) at the helm, will be released in February. Read more.
And finally, this week’s film, A Quiet Place: Day One has surpassed a major box office milestone within the first week of release. Read more.
Salty Popcorn is 100% free but you can support this independent publication by paying just £5 per month. In return, you’ll be the first to access upcoming premium features.
Upcoming Releases
My Old Ass
UK: 9 August // USA: 2 August
An 18th-birthday mushroom trip brings Elliott (Maisy Stella) face-to-face with her wisecracking 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza). When the older Elliott starts handing out warnings about what her younger self should and shouldn’t do, she realises she has to rethink everything.
Bando Stone & The New World
UK: 9 August // USA: 2 August
There’s no official synopsis for this one yet, but Donald Glover plays Bando Stone a pop star who wakes up on a deserted tropical island filled with gigantic animals and lasers… With Glover directing, starring and writing the score, it’s got to work, right?
Fact of the week
With alien invasions on our mind this week, thanks to A Quiet Place: Day One, we delve into the alien archives to find out some facts about arguably one of the most famous, Independence Day.
According to IMDB, Independence Day holds the record for the most miniature model work to appear in one film. Model shop supervisor Michael Joyce estimated that more miniatures were used for this film than in any other two films combined. Due to the advances in digital technology since this film’s release, it’s believed this record may stand forever.
Even if Independence Day isn’t your favourite alien invasion movie, I’m sure you can appreciate the scale of the work on display. Plus, it’s always nice to shout out the unsung heroes who put our favourite films on the big screen.
Review: A Quiet Place: Day One
Star rating:
4 (out of 5)
Where to watch:
USA: Only in cinemas
UK: Only in cinemas
Runtime:
1hr 39m
Director:
Michael Sarnoski
Blurb:
When New York City falls victim to an alien invasion, Samira (Lupita Nyong’o) and other survivors try to find a way to safety. They soon learn that they must remain absolutely silent as the mysterious creatures are drawn to the slightest sound.
The review (NO spoilers):
It’s easy to forget that when A Quiet Place was released in 2018 it was something of a rarity. It was a major studio movie based on an original script from Scott Beck, Bryan Woods and John Krasinski, who also starred and directed — and it was an unexpected hit.
Such success at the box office meant only one thing: Franchise.
With a generally well-regarded sequel under its belt, the series has quickly found its way into prequel territory for this third entry in the now-franchise in the form of A Quiet Place: Day One. With Pig director Michael Sarnoski drafted in to take over writing and directing duties from John Krasinski (who receives a “story by” credit), it’s the latest example of a beloved indie director being handed the keys to a major studio film. You’d be forgiven then for assuming we’ve seen this before and it never works out, right?
Wrong.
Within the first few minutes, A Quiet Place: Day One shatters expectations of the film you think you are here to see and instead delivers a bold, character-driven, emotional blockbuster that is both surprising, layered with gallows humour and utterly devastating.
The prequel drops us into New York on the first day of the invasion, introducing us to Samira (Lupita Nyong’o), a terminally ill cancer patient whose closest company is Frodo the Cat (the movie’s MVP) until she encounters Eric (Joseph Quinn) when the violence — and silence — begins.
What follows is a contemplative and profound film that feels every bit an indie movie as it does a summer blockbuster. By framing the end of the world through a lead character who is contemplating the end of her own, it grounds the film in a much harsher reality than that of the alien invasion, lending it a depth and gravitas it would otherwise be lost without. Of course, as glimpsed in the trailer, there are a number of spectacular set pieces, but for the most part, this is a stripped-back movie about two people finding themselves as the world falls apart around them; there are stretches of the film where you may forget you are watching an apocalyptic sci-fi horror, such is the way it unfolds and it is all the better for it.
Nyong’o and Quinn are both captivating on screen and their nuanced performances provide Samira and Eric with depth, complexity and humanity, wherein the true strength of the movie lies. It forgoes the tropes the genre usually relies on; it chooses not to focus on the worst of humanity as the world ends but instead shines a light on the best of humanity, or at least the potential for our best. It chooses to dwell on our capacity for empathy, selflessness and kindness in the face of unspeakable horror and tragedy. It may be a horror film on the face of it, but the surface runs deep with hope and humanity. These moments in particular are beautifully rendered on screen and are as vital to the movie as the action or scares throughout.
The script and the direction are remarkably restrained, showing only fleeting glimpses of the true horror whilst sprinkling enough action sequences to remind you that you're watching a blockbuster whilst containing scenes within that are a masterclass in building tension.
The only criticisms I have of the movie are minor; the realisation that the monsters hunt by sound occurs almost implausibly quickly and an alien feeding scene feels slightly out of place. However, the quality of the movie is such that these quibbles can be easily forgiven.
With A Quiet Place: Day One, the franchise shows no sign of quieting down. If it continues in this vein, offering stories that surprise as much as they scare, then the more the merrier.
Scroll down to see what’s in the next issue.
If you liked A Quiet Place: Day One…
Children of Men
2006 | UK: Prime Video (Free with Subscription or £3.49) // US: Apple TV ($3.99)
If you’re looking for another character-driven apocalyptic road movie blended with dystopia and humanity, then look no further than Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men.
The film transports us to 2027 where 18 years of human infertility has left society on the verge of extinction. When one woman (Clare-Hope Ashitey) miraculously gets pregnant, Theo (Clive Owen), a bureaucrat, must transport her to safety.
Whilst watching A Quiet Place: Day One it brought to mind this absolute gem of a film. Much like this week’s movie, it is beautifully shot and remarkably restrained whilst layering its tale of dystopia with hope, humanity and heartbreak — thankfully focusing on hope. With a few spectacular action set-pieces, it is a smart character-led sci-fi with a stellar cast.
In the next issue:
Kinds of Kindness
UK: 28 June // USA: 21 June | Watch the Trailer
Can’t wait to watch this 👌
Great guest post this week! And it's nice to see horror films as well as horror franchises do well at the box office and hopefully give more momentum for this genre.