A Quiet Place: 9 scenes that used noise to memorably terrifying effect

A Quiet Place: Day One shows us what happened on the day the Earth fell silent. It's the prequel to the blockbusting A Quiet Place chillers and shows us how sound-sensitive aliens first arrived on our planet to knock mankind down the food chain by a few notches.

Directed by Michael Sarnoski, helmer of the acclaimed Nicolas Cage drama Pig (2021), A Quiet Place: Day One focuses on a new clutch of characters, principally Lupita Nyong'o's cat-loving Sam. But even though elements of the casting and the location have changed (the new film takes place in New York), the essential rules of survival are the same, chiefly, making noise at one's peril.

To get you primed for A Quiet Place: Day One, we're revisiting the previous A Quiet Place films, directed by John Krasinski, to explore nine moments that utilised noise to especially terrifying effect.

A Quiet Place (2018)

Beau's death

A Quiet Place's harrowing opening sequence immediately establishes the rules of engagement, namely that silence equals survival. Or, to put it another way, noise equals death. We're introduced to the Abbott family and in the absence of being able to talk, their physical proximity and body language speak volumes amid a post-apocalyptic landscape beset by sound-sensitive aliens.

Director John Krasinski expertly juggles several plates, introducing a suspenseful concept and a convincing portrayal of familial warmth, making what happens next all the more tragic. On fitting a space shuttle toy with a battery, unsuspecting young Beau grabs the attention of the nearby creatures who attack and kill him with lethal force. Not only do we have character development in the opening scene but an efficient and chilling way of establishing the main threat.

Evelyn gives birth

Krasinski turns the screw with the best of them, contriving Evelyn being pregnant and giving birth amid an alien apocalypse. In the hands of a lesser filmmaker, this could have been silly and overblown. Still, thanks to Emily Blunt's physically intuitive and convincing performance, we're pulled into her struggle for survival.

The moment when her waters break and she gives birth in the bath with an alien closing in remains one of the film's scariest moments. It synthesises why the film is so effective: it's one part character study and one part survival horror, and the two components meet in the middle to conjure profound feelings of empathy mixed with terror.

Concealing the baby

The script for A Quiet Place is by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods with input from Krasinski. It continually finds novel and nail-biting ways for the Abbott family to play the aliens at their own game, namely by utilising environmental noise against the creatures.

The scene when Evelyn is trapped in her flooded basement with her new baby and an alien nearby is a case in point. It's an excellent example of diegetic (in-camera) sound as she conceals herself behind a waterfall, masking the creature's hearing.

Not only a plot device, this revelation is used to empower Evelyn and her children as we approach the endgame.

Lee's death

The almost complete absence of dialogue in A Quiet Place makes it all the more shattering when the characters do speak – or, in this case, shout with devastating consequences.

It's a fascinating conceit to show a devoted father effectively condemning himself with his own voice. Such is the fate of Lee (played by Krasinski) who draws the aliens away from his children Regan (Millicent Simmonds) and Marcus (Noah Jupe) and gets killed by an alien in the process.

One senses that many years of pent-up rage and tension are erupting from Lee at this moment as he comes to terms with what has been denied him, albeit at the cost of his own life.

Defeating the alien

A Quiet Place was acclaimed for its accurate use of American Sign Language and expert use of subjective sound to put us in the deaf Regan's shoes. The film extends generosity to Regan's character by showing her to be as tenacious and resourceful as her parents – in fact, she's able to weaponize this apparent limitation and bring the story to a close.

Throughout the events of the film, Regan comes to realise that her hearing aid can emit a high-pitched signal that halts the monsters and exposes their brain, allowing them to be shot and killed. Rather than using deafness as a gimmicky plot mechanic, A Quiet Place instead locates an empowering story of intelligence against the odds.

A Quiet Place: Part II (2021)

The aliens arrive

A Quiet Place: Part II expands the mythology by showing us where the monsters came from. They're established as alien invaders that fall from the sky and assault with lightning-quick force, mobilising against anything and anyone that dares to make a noise.

Returning director Krasinski again makes excellent use of subjective experience, cutting into Regan's point of view, absent sound, as she's initially unaware of what's happening. When we step back out of her perspective and into the full-bore town assault, it's all the more jarring and scary, another example of how Krasinski utilises sound to extend a sense of empathy and understanding.

The bear trap

The most disturbing scene in A Quiet Place: Part II involves a threat other than the monsters and again stresses how sound is key to a film's visceral impact. Having left their homestead, Evelyn, her children and their new baby are seeking out other survivors and unwittingly walk into the booby-trapped stronghold of survivalist (and former neighbour) Emmett (Cillian Murphy).

With a nearby alien alerted by Emmett's homemade alarm, Marcus sprints ahead – and straight into a bear trap. The crunch of the impact and Jupe's convincing screams emphasise how the characters have everything to lose by giving into their natural human impulses like pain and suffering.

Evelyn in the factory

A Quiet Place: Part II echoes many of the set pieces from the first film, and we see how Evelyn and her family capitalise on their previous experiences to keep themselves alive. Having concealed herself behind a wall of water in A Quiet Place, Evelyn now understands that running water can be used as an effective mask in dangerous situations, and she's also adapted her oxygen-equipped baby character to go mobile and seek out fellow survivors.

In the sequel, she utilises a sprinkler system to conceal herself from the alien. The agonising thing is how Krasinski brilliantly intercuts with a host of other life-or-death scenarios, including Marcus almost suffocating thanks to a depleted oxygen supply and Emmett and Regan being attacked by raiders in separate locations. It shows how, in the world of A Quiet Place, one person's fleeting victory will run in parallel with another's fateful mistakes.

The island attack

There's nothing worse than an idyll being ripped apart in horrific circumstances. Emmett and Regan discover an island retreat that is seemingly shielded from the aliens by a stretch of open water. There they meet a man played by Djimon Hounsou who outlines how the community has stayed together while the world has fallen apart.

What a pity that Emmett and Regan never considered that one of the aliens would attach itself to their boat and invade the island... Having established the environment with gentle bucolic sounds, Krasinski then utilises the blistering assault of alien screeches, screams and all-round chaos to drive home the fact that nowhere on the planet is safe. And although Hounsou's character apparently dies, we will see him again in the prequel film A Quiet Place: Day One.

The radio station

A Quiet Place: Part II loops back around to Regan's steeliness and resourcefulness. She and Emmett break into the island radio station to broadcast the paralysing static noise that can stop the aliens in their tracks. In the process, they can also communicate the use of this homemade weapon to other survivors in the area.

It's refreshing to see a horror film that's explicitly built around a character's practicality and tenacity. As the film reaches a close, the use of noise transitions from terror to liberation as Marcus hears Regan's broadcast to stand up and execute one of the creatures himself. The proud look on Evelyn's face says it all and sets us up for A Quiet Place: Part 3, which is set to reach us in 2025.