A Quiet Place – Story almost became part of another horror franchise
A Quiet Place is the most recent film on this list, having only been released in April. But critics are already hailing it as an instant classic. If you’re worried about spoilers, stop reading now!
Like the title suggests, A Quiet Place is about a family who live in a society where they have to be as quiet as possible. A breed of creatures with hypersensitive hearing roam freely around the city, and if you get too loud, they sense it and find you.
Evelyn and Lee Abbott (played by real-life couple Emily Blunt and John Krasinski) are doing the best they can to raise their three children, sons Marcus and Beau, and their daughter Regan, who’s deaf. Unfortunately, one small mistake by their youngest son triggers the creatures, and he gets snatched away. Lee learns as much as he can about the creatures to keep his family safe, but sometimes, that’s not enough.
The scariest thing about this film is the lack of sound. It’s so quiet most of the time that you’re just waiting for something to happen, leading to an eerily quiet theater where people are afraid to even touch their popcorn. It’s definitely an accomplishment in horror cinema, but it almost got relegated to being a sequel for another series.
Originally, Paramount Pictures wanted to incorporate A Quiet Place into the already established Cloverfield film franchise. Since that series always deals with a not-so-distant dystopian future in the United States, it seemed like the perfect fit. However, once the studio executives read the final script, they realized it was a different movie, and needed its own project.
It’s hard to think of this unique thriller being a sequel to another movie, especially since audiences are so enthralled by it. Would it have been as appealing to the masses if it was released as a Cloverfield movie?