In 2018, John Krasinski introduced audiences to A Quiet Place, a postapocalyptic horror where blind extraterrestrials have become the apex predators on Earth. These intelligent creatures have heightened hearing capabilities; they will strike on the smallest of sounds, meaning humans cannot talk. A Quiet Place contains just 25 lines of spoken dialogue, with most communication coming via sign language. A Quiet Place became a smash hit, grossing over $340 million and spawning a sequel, 2021’s A Quiet Place Part II.
On June 28, find out what happened on the day Earth went silent in the franchise’s prequel, A Quiet Place: Day One. The film stars Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn as two people looking to escape New York City after the first invasion by the alien creatures. If you liked A Quiet Place: Day One, watch these three movies for more thrills and chills. Our picks include a thriller that revolves around silence, an alligator attack horror, and a sci-fi adventure featuring vicious dinosaurs.
Don’t Breathe (2016)
In A Quiet Place: Day One, the blind extraterrestrial creatures can hunt humans because of their enhanced hearing. In Don’t Breathe, a blind war veteran named Norman Nordstrom (Stephen Lang) also uses heightened senses to track people. Thieves Rocky (Jane Levy), Alex (Dylan Minnette), and Money (Daniel Zovatto) receive a tip that Nordstrom has stored $300,000 in cash inside his house.
The trio set out to rob Nordstrom, thinking that stealing from a blind man should be easy. Wrong. Nordstrom traps the thieves inside his house and fights back, showcasing his brutality. Rocky learns that Nordstrom is trying to protect a sinister secret in the basement. Don’t Breathe is a tense thriller with a creative premise and an effective twist. Just remember to breathe while watching.
Buy or rent Don’t Breathe on YouTube, Apple, Amazon, or Google.
Crawl (2019)
Watching alligators wreak havoc in Crawl makes me think surviving the alien invasion in A Quiet Place: Day One is an easier task. During a Category 5 hurricane in Florida, collegiate swimmer Haley (Kaya Scodelario) drives directly into the storm to check on her estranged father, Dave (Barry Pepper).
At their family home, Haley finds Dave unconscious in the crawl space. To make matters worse, alligators are blocking every exit as the space begins to flood. Help is nowhere to be found. The only way to safety is up, which means facing the alligators head-on. Crawl is B-movie heaven, with gore and edge-of-your-seat thrills. At 87 minutes, Crawl is not a crawl at all; it’s a dead sprint to a violent finish.
Stream Crawl on Paramount+.
65 (2023)
Scott Beck and Bryan Woods co-wrote A Quiet Place, so they’re quite familiar with unleashing vicious creatures and constructing suspenseful moments. In 2023, Beck and Woods wrote and directed 65, a sci-fi thriller that combines the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park with the anxiety of Alien.
65 million years ago, a pilot, Mills (Adam Driver), from a foreign planet crash-landed on Earth. Mills and a young girl named Koa (Ariana Greenblatt) are the only survivors. Their only chance of going home is to find an escape shuttle that landed at the top of a mountain. After starting their walk, Mills learns that on Earth, dinosaurs are the dominant species. These prehistoric creatures are dangerous, ruthless, and ready to kill. Let the journey through hell begin.
Stream 65 on Netflix.
