A Quiet Place II Crashes onto Blu-ray

A Quiet Place I & II is one of those rare set of films where you can actually watch them back-to-back and get the feeling of having absorbed a single epic film. That's because AQP2 actually picks up right where the first leaves off (with a bit of a flashback that shows the arrival of the "totally not Gormogon" aliens and how quickly they begin to wreak havoc.

The aforementioned aliens have not so much invaded Earth as they have crashed into it. They're giant bugs -- blind, but attracted to the slightest noise to hunt their prey. The key to survival is to learn to remain as quiet as possible -- a difficult proposition for the Abbott family, who rig up a special oxygen-tank enclosed carrier for their infant son in order to keep him quiet. Mom Evelyn (Emily Blunt) does her best to protect the children while father Lee (Director John Krasinski) works on finding other survivors by monitoring radio equipment.

The breakthrough comes from their deaf daughter, Regan (Millicent Simmonds), who discovers the feedback given off by her hearing aid serves to disrupt the hunter/killers. This gives the family a fighting chance as the first film ends, with mother and daughter broadcasting the sound over a P.A. system attached to the house to draw in the creatures, disable them, and shoot them.

But that's only a local fix, and as we start the second film, the Abbotts -- minus Lee -- are on a long walking quest to find other humans. They meet Emmett (Cillian Murphy) living alone in the mountains and not open to guests. However, at his elevation, the elder Abbot son, Marcus (Noah Jupe) makes a discovery -- there's a station on the radio playing music, a song on a loop. He believes it means there are survivors, but Marcus says it's just a record on an endless loop.

Regan, however, sees something else: a method for impacting the bugs on a larger scale by using the radio broadcast tower to amplify her sonic discovery. Furthermore, she's convinced the song being played has a secondary meaning that will lead them to a place of safety. So she sets off on her own, soon to be followed by Emmett.

The rest of the film is the family separated on three different tracks, each in situations tense enough that you may find you've been holding your breath. The downside to this is that you can see the alignment of all the events telegraphed early on, and you know that one track is going to impact the others at just the right time and in just the right way. But that doesn't take away from this being a fun, frightening flick of alien carnage and the human will to survive. Definitely a good double creature-feature flick for a Saturday night.