2018 was dynamite year for horror. HEREDITARY, MANDY, SUSPIRIA, and HALLOWEEN proved that the the genre can still be compelling, thought provoking, and challenging. Arguably the best of the bunch was actor/director John Krasinski's A QUIET PLACE. Ostensibly a film about a world infested with creatures that kill based on the slightest sound, the film was so much more than that. It was a precise and insightful examination of parenthood and how we strive to protect our children from the dangers of the world, even if we know the gesture is ultimately futile.
Well while the film was entertaining as well as terrifying, it also cleaned up at the box office. With only a modest budget of approximately $20 million, the film went on to gross over $340 million worldwide. It also put Krasinski on the map as a director to be reckoned with. Since Hollywood is a place where the axiom, "Money talks and bullshit walks" is tattooed on every studio executive's lower back, a sequel was inevitable. Thankfully, all the principals involved are back for this second go round and on the heels of yesterday's first images, Paramount Pictures just dropped a teaser trailer and poster for A QUIET PLACE: PART II.
While the teaser doesn't show much, the tension and sense of dread is certainly palpable. A full trailer is set to debut on New Year's Day, so fortunately you won't have to wait long to get some more of that sweet sweet QUIET PLACE goodness. An official synopsis of the sequel states that "Following the deadly events at home, the Abbott family must now face the terrors of the outside world as they continue their fight for survival in silence. Forced to venture into the unknown, they quickly realize that the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats that lurk beyond the sand path." Although the Abbott family is going to move beyond the world they know into the greater global landscape, I feel like this is still going to be a small scale intimate story. In my opinion that is absolutely the right way to go. No sense in doing a radical departure from what worked so well in the first film.
A QUIET PLACE: PART II starring Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Cillian Murphy, and Djimon Hounsou silently stalks its way into theaters March 20, 2020.