In 2018, an original horror film from a guy best known for starring in The Office​ premiered,
and much like the murderous creatures at the heart of the story, the buzz quickly spread.
It wasn't long before we learned that A Quiet Place Part II was on the way.
Here's what we know so far.
The world of A Quiet Place is a whole world, despite the relative isolation of the main
characters at the heart of the first film.
We only see this strange apocalypse and the creatures which caused it through the lens
of the Abbott family, whose lives largely revolve around their rural home and brief
trips into nearby towns to search for supplies.
We rarely glimpse other survivors in the film, and when we do they're brief and brutal, reminding
us that it's very difficult to stay alive in this world.
“ah”
While the sequel will expand upon the relatively small scale of the first film, the Abbott
family will remain its focus.
Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, and Noah Jupe will all be back as Evelyn, Regan, and
Marcus, respectively.
So, if you're eager to see what life is like for the Abbotts now, you're going to get your
wish.
A Quiet Place roots its story in a very personal way, offering very few glimpses of the rest
of the world.
There is a sense of a larger world at work beyond the first film's single-family story,
though, and unsurprisingly, the second film is going to explore that.
Writer/director John Krasinkski explained:
"The thing that I loved in the movie, where my mind kept wandering as we were making it,
was the question of who was on the other end of those fires, when the father lights the
fire and in the distance those other fires light up.
How did those people survive?
How did that old man survive?"
That means that, in addition to the returning stars who will reprise their roles as the
Abbotts, A Quiet Place Part II will feature several new faces.
Cillian Murphy and Djimon Hounsou, among others, are signed on to play other survivors in the
newly expanded world.
A Quiet Place was John Krasinski's first horror effort at the helm, but he did much more than
sit in the director's chair.
While writers Bryan Woods and Scott Beck are credited with the original story for the film,
Krasinski also earned a writing credit on the first movie after stepping in to rewrite
Beck and Woods' original script.
That made his stamp on the project even more personal something he's carrying over in a
big way for the second installment.
This time around, Krasinski is both the director and the sole credited writer, with Beck and
Woods credited only as the creators of the characters from the original film.
A Quiet Place left the Abbott family in a precarious but promising situation in its
final minutes.
With their soundproofed barn basement flooded, Evelyn caring for a new baby, and older children
Regan and Marcus trying to escape one of the creatures, Lee Abbott made the ultimate sacrifice
for his family, allowing a creature to kill him so the kids could reunite with their mother.
After the reunion, Regan and Evelyn were able to kill the creature when Regan realized she
could amplify the feedback her cochlear implant was emitting when the creatures were near,
causing it to spasm and creating an opening to kill it.
The sequel will presumably present an opportunity for the Abbotts to share their newfound skills
with the rest of the world, provided they can find more humans.
Plus, if a cochlear implant can help take the creatures down, what else can?
We could be looking at a film that finds some very inventive new ways to weaponize sound,
both as a monster-slaying weapon and as a moviemaking tool.
One of the great appeals of A Quiet Place is its ability to captivate while only telling
us what we need to know to follow the story and the rules of the world.
As a result, we have very little confirmed information about the things that make the
Earth "a quiet place" — the creatures.
We know that they are extraterrestrial in their origin, and the film tells us that they
were able to effectively wipe out most humans and a number of other animals on Earth in
a matter of months, driving the survivors into hiding.
We know that they have incredibly sensitive hearing that allows them to sense nearly any
sound from some distance away, that their skin is armored, and that sounds above a certain
register cause them to become disoriented and expose the vulnerable parts of their body,
offering an avenue by which to kill them.
So, will A Quiet Place Part II keep these rules — and only these rules — in place,
or will we learn more about these mysterious beings?
The answer may lie in one particular revelation from the first A Quiet Place press tour: at
one point, it could have been a Cloverfield movie.
According to the original screenwriters, while they were still in the script stages of developing
the first film, there was an idea that perhaps the creatures at the heart of it could be
tied to the same ones within the Cloverfield universe.
Beck and Woods noted that Paramount Pictures ultimately saw their film as, quote, "a totally
different movie," but the possibility was there, and that raises an interesting question:
if A Quiet Place Part II hits as big as its predecessor did, what comes next?
Is it possible that this film's universe could expand to be part of something bigger?
Could a crossover still happen?
It seems unlikely, but at the very least it's amusing to think about.
The first full trailer for A Quiet Place Part II arrived on New Year's Day 2020, and revealed
some of what's next for the Abbott family as they venture out beyond their farmhouse.
Before that, though, it took us all the way back to the first day of the end of the world,
and showed us a harrowing sequence in which Evelyn is trying to drive her children through
a panicking neighborhood as the world descends into chaos.
Back in the present, the Abbotts are heading out into the world with Evelyn's new baby,
who's largely confined to a box with an oxygen mask and tank hooked up to it.
Evelyn, Regan, and Marcus stumble upon Emmett, who doesn't seem at all happy to see them.
As Emily argues that there are still people out in the world who are "worth saving," a
series of chilling visuals hint that she may be wrong.
It's an intriguing "the real monsters are among us" setup, and we can't wait to see
where it goes next.
"There's nothing left."
A Quiet Place Part II hits theaters March 20, 2020, very nearly two years to the day
after the first film's debut in 2018.
Some sequels may take years to fall into place, but we won't have to wait much longer to see
this one.
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