This summer has been full of amazing movies of all genres. One of the most anticipated horror movies from this summer is “A Quiet Place: Day One” and one controversial hit was “The Strangers: Chapter 1”. Spoilers for anyone looking to see these two films.
“A Quiet Place: Day One” is a prequel set before the first movie. In this one you follow Sam a terminally ill cancer patient that goes into New York, and on that day the world receives unexpected visitors.
The aliens descend and immediately begin their assault on all sentient. As a result, people are in utter chaos making everything worse, leading to many deaths.
While our main character is passed out, everyone learns that the aliens are attracted to sound. Survivors are instructed to leave the area and travel to a bay because the aliens cannot swim.
t will be dangerous. They are also instructed to go to a bay because the aliens can’t swim. However, how they are to get there is left ambiguous.
Our main character has a cat that somehow survives everything, and acts almost as a guide for the second character to meet the protagonist.
Sam also just wants to get pizza through this whole ordeal, but her new companion makes her see things differently. After finding pizza, and dancing in a bar, it ends with them going to the bay to get on a boat.
However, only the companion and the cat end up on the boat. While Sam distracts the aliens by sacrificing herself using a boom box.
Overall, it was a lackluster film. We get to know what it was like for the people on day one of the invasion but we learn nothing more about the aliens. How they came, why they came, and the purpose of it all is not explained.
Our second weekend horror movie was “The Strangers: Chapter 1”. This is considered to be a new start for the series. It is in many ways similar the original 2008 movie.
While stranded a family, finds refuge in a cabin, and weird things occur. Then their lives are threatened by three strangers working together to kill them.
This movie follows a number of horror tropes. Opening your door to strangers, going out into the woods, going out alone, and screaming at the top of your lungs when you’re trying not to get caught are the exact tropes you’ll see here. It is something that makes certain horror movies repetitive and that holds true here as well.
With regards to the strangers, it is made clear that the trio works together. The women wear the same mask, and the man wears a sack over his head. He is dressed how you would imagine an executioner that would remove your head. The male stranger and one of the female strangers seem to be a couple.
Strangers is a very bloody series, with many predictable plot beats. This won’t effect how much you enjoy the movie as long as you manage your expectations.
Like many horror movies it claims to be based on a true story. Whether true or not, that adds to the creepiness of the experience.
Faith Harrell, Reporter