Is 2024 the year of the prequel? Michael Sarnoski’s A Quiet Place: Day One just became the best in John Krasinski’s horror series. It’s an earnest, frightening, and delicately layered New York City apocalypse flick that impresses well beyond sound-seeking monsters. Sarnoski throws shades of Cloverfield, the Alien franchise, and [checks notes] The Bucket List into his A Quiet Place origin spin-off, even retaining his devotion to sublime flavors from Pig. It’s a dramatically rich invasion flick that doesn’t sacrifice either teary-eyed emotionality or obscene extraterrestrial aggression, constructing a tonal rollercoaster that whizzes by without any jerks or bumps in motion.

A Quiet Place: Part One is your average survival narrative about a dying hospice patient named Sam (Lupita Nyong'o) who wants to taste her favorite pizza slice—East Harlem’s iconic Patsy’s Pizzeria—one more time before unknown entities eradicate humanity. She’s accompanied by her black-and-white cat,...