The First Reactions To ‘A Quiet Place Part II’ Are Scary Good

A Quiet Place premiered at South by SouthWest in 2018. I was lucky enough to be attendance that night, and my main memory of the screening isn’t of any particular scene, but how quiet the crowd was. Not out of boredom, either, but 1,200-plus people who dared not talk or even cough to break the tension. Would director John Krasinski be able to replicate that same eerie silence in A Quiet Place Part II Apparently: yes!

The Emily Blunt-starring sequel to A Quiet Place, which grossed $340.9 million and was nominated for an Oscar, was screened for critics on Thursday, eliciting largely positive responses. “A QUIET PLACE PART II is “Tension: The Movie.” I have a stomach ache now from how tense this movie is. (Also, this turned out to be a surprisingly great Cillian Murphy movie.),” Uproxx‘s own Mike Ryan tweeted, while IndieWire‘s Kate Erbland wrote, “A QUIET PLACE PART II: A worthy, world-expanding followup that builds on the original and finds its own thrills, chills, and emotions in the process. Audiences should still be banned from eating crunchy snacks during any and all screenings.”

Fandango’s Erik Davis called it “just as tense and terrifying as the first one” with “some sequences in this film that are a masterclass in suspense,” Bloody Disgusting‘s Meagan Navarro praised actress Millicent Simmonds, and Comic Book’s Chris Killian added, “The use of sound in [A Quiet Place Part II] is still so vital. In what could easily have been a retread, @johnkrasinski finds unbelievably creative ways to keep the movie’s niche from getting stale. The entire cast is fantastic and it’s riveting from top to bottom.”

— Sean O'Connell (@Sean_OConnell) March 6, 2020

So #AQuietPlacePartII was incredibly tense & builds upon the story from the first film in some unexpected/inspired ways. Cillian Murphy RULES & Millicent Simmonds really comes into her own her with a truly phenomenal performance.

— Heather Wixson (@thehorrorchick) March 6, 2020

Kudos to John Krasinski and co: #AQuietPlace Part II delivers. Millicent Simmonds is my new Ripley — owns the film. (And yes, some great scares.)

— Joel Meares (@joelmeares) March 6, 2020

A Quiet Place Part II opens on March 20.