With the upcoming release of A Quiet Place 2, there are several common horror movie sequel mistakes it can avoid in order to be a successful addition to the ever-growing series. Now that there are talks of a third installment buzzing around, it's crucial that the sequel doesn't fall into the same traps others have in the past. Here's how A Quiet Place 2 can avoid becoming another horror movie sequel that causes the franchise to suffer as a result.
John Krasinski's A Quiet Place astounded audiences when it utilized a lack of sound as its main way of evoking fear. While a family is forced to live in utter silence with the fear that one wrong move could kill them all, they use American sign language to communicate. It was one of the most brilliant uses of the language as well as a unique way to represent the deaf community in horror. A cochlear implant even has a key role of saving the entire family from the hordes of alien monsters roaming a post-apocalyptic Earth. A Quiet Place stars John Krasinski as Lee Abbott and Emily Blunt - his wife in real life and in the movie - as Evelyn Abbott, who is pregnant for the majority of the movie. Their children Regan (Millicent Simmonds, Wonderstruck) and Marcus (Noah Jupe, Honey Boy) are trying their best to survive following the horrific death of their youngest brother Beau (Cade Woodward).
Due to the fact that A Quiet Place 2 takes place directly after the events of the first movie, it may run into an issue of how they'll make the creatures scarier now that the Abbott family knows how to defeat them. However, making them stronger to compensate would be a mistake. It isn't typical that something like an alien life-form can become more powerful within a few days or weeks. By doing this, A Quiet Place 2 runs the risk of becoming a franchise that needs to make continually stronger, more powerful creatures rather than delving into their origins or how the current ones adapt and change over time in a logical way. This mistake has been made by countless horror sequels before, so it's an important lesson to learn.
Typically, sequels will latch onto their most gripping aspect. For example, Michael Myers in Halloween appeared to be an average serial killer who was human and could be killed normally. By the time Halloween 2 premiered, it seemed like Jamie Lee Curtis's Laurie Strode could successfully defeat Michael like any human assailant, but the franchise had other plans for Michael. While some changes were more gradual than others, most additions to the Halloween franchise transformed him into a supernatural being who can withstand numerous gunshots, full-body burns, and explosions. If A Quiet Place 2 chooses to go in the direction of making more powerful creatures, it can't be too hasty.
There are several other ways that the movie could go about making the monsters seem more powerful or unique. In Netflix's Stranger Things, each season takes place approximately a year apart from one another, but they almost always reveal the next evil that is laying dormant. The Demogorgon didn't spawn Demodogs overnight or vice-versa, nor did the Mind Flayer come from them. Rather than forcing their monsters to change rapidly, they offered a variation, which is exactly what A Quiet Place 2 could do. It'd be fairly simple to add a brief origin story for the creatures and the possibility that they breed. There might also be different variations, and things like climate could impact which extraterrestrials inhabit certain portions of the globe. There's also the possibility they just run out of batteries for Regan's cochlear implant and they'll be forced to find another way to destroy the beasts — this might be the most simple route.
In regard to extraterrestrials and monsters, the options are seemingly endless for horror movies, but they have to be attentive to which direction they choose to avoid muddling the narrative. Most sequels aren't considered as good as the original movie. If A Quiet Place 2 goes in the direction of making their creatures stronger over the course of a few weeks without explanation, it's possible a promising franchise could falter simply by not learning from past sequels' mistakes.
Key Release Dates
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A Quiet Place 2
Release Date:2021-05-28
