A Quiet Place: Day One (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)
A Quiet Place: Day One is the much-anticipated prequel to the critically acclaimed A Quiet Place series. Directed by Michael Sarnoski, it revisits the terrifying early days of the alien invasion, offering a raw, more immediate look at humanity’s struggle for survival. The film effectively preserves the tension and dread that defined its predecessors, although its broader focus and origin-story elements sometimes detract from the intimacy that made the original so compelling. Read more about A Quiet Place: Day One inside the review and don’t forget, clicking the cover art at the end is your way to order your own copy of the film!
Film: 
Experience the day the world went quiet in this terrifying continuation of the A Quiet Place universe. When Samira (Lupita Nyong’o) returns home to New York City, her simple trip turns into a harrowing nightmare when mysterious creatures that hunt by sound attack. Accompanied by her cat Frodo and an unexpected ally (Joseph Quinn), Samira must embark on a perilous journey through the city that has suddenly gone silent, where the only rule is to stay quiet to stay alive. Djimon Hounsou and Alex Wolff also star in this intensely suspenseful thriller.
Samira, or Sam, is terminally ill. We learn that she is in a hospice facility with older people and other terminal patients. On an outing to a marionette show, the invasion happens. For Sam, this is abrupt and terrifying of course, but also interrupts her desire for what may be her last slice of Pizza. Armed with her cat Frodo and making a friend in the process, Sam’s will to survive despite her fear and illness is tested through a series or harrowing events.
The plot shifts between different survivors trying to navigate the chaos and silence in the first few days of the alien invasion. The narrative structure, while engaging, feels somewhat familiar, as it recycles many of the atmospheric techniques that worked so well in the first two films. The pacing alternates between quiet, slow-burn tension and sudden bursts of action, but some of the character development gets lost amidst the spectacle of the invasion’s scale.
The core of the story revolves around the survivors’ ingenuity and desperation, but with the added burden of explaining the origins of the alien threat, the film leans into exposition more than necessary. This occasionally diminishes the carefully constructed tension, making it feel like a “prequel trap” where filling in backstory overtakes the characters’ emotional arcs. However, it still manages to generate palpable tension and high-stakes moments, even though it doesn’t have the same narrative elegance as the first *A Quiet Place*.
The performances in Day One are strong across the board. Newcomers to the franchise deliver solid portrayals of ordinary people thrust into extraordinary situations, but no one reaches the emotional intensity of Emily Blunt or Millicent Simmonds in the previous films. Standout performances, however, come from Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn, whose characters’ arcs anchor the human side of the story amid the chaos of invasion.
Visually, Day One stays true to the franchise’s established tone—quiet, desolate landscapes punctuated by moments of frenetic movement. Sarnoski manages to preserve much of the eerie quietness that defined Krasinski’s directorial style while adding his own touch. The film plays with perspective, often placing the audience in claustrophobic, intimate settings that heighten the suspense, though it also expands its scope to capture the devastation on a broader level.
The use of sound remains one of the franchise’s defining elements, though Day One doesn’t rely as heavily on silence as the previous films. The increased use of dialogue and loud action sequences slightly dilutes the distinct auditory experience that made the original so groundbreaking, though it still excels in the moments when silence returns.
Video:
Encoding: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Layers: BD-100
HDR: Dolby Vision
Clarity/Detail: The 4K UHD Blu-ray release of A Quiet Place: Day One takes full advantage of the format’s capabilities, presenting a clean and highly detailed image that immerses viewers in the film’s tense atmosphere. The 2160p image is a significant upgrade over the standard Blu-ray, offering fine detail in textures, from the actors’ skin tones to the rich details of the urban landscapes.
Depth: Focus is sharp throughout with a closeups and tracking shots getting equal amounts of love from the lens.
Black Levels: A lot of the film takes place in dark places, and even in the dark the film is highly visible and there is no evidence of crush to be found.
Color Reproduction: For a good chunk of the film, the color palette is cool, which makes sense with the creature attacks and the rain that comes during the duration of the movie. Clothing and the marionette theater give the colors a chance to pop with reds and yellows being prevalent in some moments.
Flesh Tones: Skin tones look natural here, and as needed with fires and destruction throughout, even the ashen look of the actors looks natural.
Noise/Artifacts: Clean
Audio:
Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos, English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Polish, Thai – Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Cantonese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified), Norwegian, Polish, Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Turkish
Dynamics: Dolby Atmos has been a hallmark of the Quiet Place universe and this new entry is no different. Loud, invasive, immersive and exceptional are the words that go into describing the sound of the film. Even when you have to be silent, sound is everywhere, sounding big and bold and nearly live in your living room.
Height: Height channels handle mayhem in the city very well, with sound coming down on you moving around the room.
Low-Frequency Extension: Bass is there for creature attacks, things blowing up, falling down or in big moments of movement.
Surround Sound Presentation: Surrounds work in tandem with the height channels, putting you right into the wilds of a New York under attack with the characters.
Dialogue Reproduction: Clear and perfect.
Extras: 
Extras for A Quiet Place: Day One work to make your understanding of the world building and the creation of the film more informed. The film comes to 4K UHD Blu-ray with a standard release as well as a Steelbook. The steelbook is minimalist visually, but will be a great pick for fans of the collectable box!
- Day Zero: Beginnings and Endings(1080p, 7:58): The settings are discussed along with the decision not to show too much destruction on screen.
- In the City: Chaos in Chinatown(1080p, 7:51): Shooting stories on and off set and recreating the NYC Street-scape in a studio.
- The Exodus: Against the Tide(1080p, 6:27): About the mass exodus of the survivors of the first attack.
- The Long Walk: Monsters in Midtown(1080p, 7:49): About the cat actors, Joseph Quinns experiences and more about the filming of the film, including making New York in London.
- Pizza at the End of the World(1080p, 7:17): More than the title suggests, this feature discusses the poetry Sam writes, as well as the ending, Sam’s determination for Pizza, and the discussion of death the film brings up.
- Deleted and Extended Scenes(1080p, 15:06):
The Back of the Bus – Extended, Take Off Your Shoes – Extended, Finding the Farm – Extended, New Shoes – Deleted, and Poetry at Patsy’s – Deleted.
Summary:
While A Quiet Place: Day One may not reach the emotional intensity or originality of the first film, it succeeds as a compelling prequel, expanding the universe while retaining much of the franchise’s suspenseful DNA. It trades some of the original’s intimacy for a larger-scale narrative, but this broader scope offers its own thrills. Strong performances, particularly from Nyong’o and Quinn, help anchor the film emotionally.
For fans of the series and home theater enthusiasts, A Quiet Place: Day One on 4K UHD Blu-ray is a must-own, offering a top-tier audio/visual experience that heightens the film’s tension and drama.
