Neither of this summer’s alien-related movies could claim to be wholly original. But as enjoyable as Alien: Romulus was, A Quiet Place: Day One gets the nod over it for the sheer tension that it creates throughout its runtime. It’s also surprisingly adept at getting us to care about its two main characters, Samira (Lupita Nyong’o) and Eric (The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ Joseph Quinn), neither of whom we’ve seen before.
Eric and Samira are also strangers to each other before the alien invasion begins. But as everyone else around them dies, all they have left is each other and Samira’s cat, Frodo. Since this doubles as both a sci-fi movie and a horror film, there’s always a feeling of dread that surrounds the two leads. Because we know what they don’t: There is no escaping this threat, and happy endings aren’t in the cards.