A Quiet Place Part II

A “Quiet Place: Part II” finally made its debut after a long awaited three years after “A Quiet Place: Part I” was released in 2018. The first film left off with quite a cliffhanger after the Abbott family was left fatherless in the middle of a post-apocalyptic world taken over by blind aliens with intense hearing abilities.

In May 2021, John Krasinski’s film hit the theatres after the delay of the pandemic interrupting production. John Krasinski doubles as the director and plays the role of the father in the first film. Although his character is not in Part II as often, he is in the flashback scene of the film that is the first scene of “A Quiet Place II”.

After the first film, viewers are thrown back by the loud noises of families enjoying their children’s baseball game and running errands around town. The first scene gives viewers all the missing pieces that we were left wondering as to how these alien creatures came to Earth. Krasinski does an amazing job waiting to show that until the second film, giving the characters the opportunity to develop their stories for the audience.

From there the film picks up right where the last scene of Part I ended with the family being surrounded by monsters but now, they know how to fight them off and kill them with the power of Millicent Simmonds’ character, Regan, who is deaf. They have found that the high frequency from her hearing device her father made for her is too much for the aliens and makes them confused enough to shoot and kill them in close range.

The film follows the Abbotts on their journey to find a new place to live and find supplies for the three children, one being a newborn. Along the way they encounter an old family friend from the ballpark who steps up and helps them find a new beginning as they adapt to this new ‘normal’ amongst the aliens.

The cinematographer, Polly Morgan, carries the same vibe from the first film into the second with mostly night scenes and dark situations which take up 75% of the screen time. Krasinski wanted Morgan to keep the cameras moving with the characters to make sure the audience feels engaged and to build tension and suspense to match the situation the family was going through.

The targeted audience for this film were lovers of horror film and a mature age group but also the deaf community. Krasinski was adamant about casting a deaf actress to play Regan Abbott which is why he chose Simmonds. Simmonds felt the pressure of representing the deaf and hard of hearing community while playing the part and did so beautifully. She was able to relate to her character because of her own struggles. Krasinski made sure that Simmonds would be accommodated by making the entire team and cast learn American Sign Language to be able to communicate with her easily.

“A Quiet Place II” won many awards including, Golden Trailer Award for Best Horror, Hollywood Critic Association Best Actress, Millicent Simmonds and Best Supporting Actress Emily Blunt.