THEIR father Lee Abbott (John Krasinski) pulled off the ultimate sacrifice in order to save them in  A Quiet Place Part.  Now, in the sequel A Quiet Place Part II, Regan (Millicent Simmonds) and Marcus (Noah Jupe) must step up to the plate as they seek refuge from the sounds that draw the omnipresent alien creatures.

[Watch the film’s new spot at https://youtu.be/pxpUzpUgUaU]  

Young Regan who is thrust into the forefront of trying to find a larger solution, only to have to venture out on her own and take on an epic amount of responsibility. Returning to the role is Millicent Simmonds, the deaf teen who won critical praise for her mesmerizing portrait of Regan in the first film. Krasinski was thrilled to have her back—and especially excited to give her the opportunity to go even further.

“Millie faces probably the most intense challenges of any actor in the film because Regan is completely on her own for a time,” says Krasinski. “Even though her hearing aid is a weapon, she’s still in more constant danger than the rest of her family because she can’t hear if she’s making noise. What I loved about Millie’s character in the beginning is that she always had this innate sense of being a warrior princess. But now, she is also a just girl alone who has to figure out if she has the faculties to survive.”

For Simmonds, Regan’s well of strength comes from her ongoing connection with Lee. “Lee was always Regan’s role model,” she points out. “Now, with him being gone, all she wants is to be that same rock of support for her mom and her brother.”

Meanwhile, Regan’s brother Marcus is also in a state of shock, and terrified of the family being separated. Revisiting the role is 14-year-old Noah Jupe.

Like his older sister, Marcus is forced to mature quickly in the midst of total jeopardy. “I think all the rules and protocols the family had before for dealing with the creatures came to feel like ordinary, everyday life to Marcus—but suddenly all that just goes out the window,” says Jupe. “He has to learn now to be far more self-sufficient. But he’s still pretty terrified inside even if he’s trying to mask it and be brave. He’s also still a bit f a klutz and he does have some accidents, but you’ve got to give him credit because he keeps getting back up.”

For Krasinski, witnessing this pair of promising young actors constantly growing and bringing more of themselves was a source of daily joy. He especially took pleasure from watching Simmonds and Jupe adding new complexity to the family dynamics that are the foundation of the movie.

“Millie and Noah are truly two of the best actors I’ve ever worked with,” sums up Krasinski. “To see them go out into the world and not only come back much better actors, but also still be such incredible human beings was amazing to me. They went so deep and brought out nuances even I didn’t expect.”

About A Quiet Place Part II

The second chapter of 2018’s A Quiet Place which became a startling hit and cultural phenomenon, A Quiet Place Part II takes moviegoers deeper into a terrifying world, and the stakes have never been higher. The film is directed, written and produced by John Krasinski and starring Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Djimon Hounsou, and John Krasinski

In the film, following the deadly events at home, the Abbott family (Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe) must now face the terrors of the outside world as they continue their fight for survival in silence. Forced to venture into the unknown, they quickly realize that the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats that lurk beyond the sand path.

Now playing in Philippine cinemas, A Quiet Place Part II is distributed by Paramount Pictures through Columbia Pictures.  Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/paramountpicsph/; Twitter at www.twitter.com/paramountpicsph/; Instagram at www.instagram.com/paramountpicsph/ and YouTube at  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsZ7igjHZB-5k8DDM7ilVJw. Connect with #AQuietPlace and tag paramountpicsph

(ROHN ROMULO)

MASTER of modern horror James Wan returns to his roots as both writer and director with the new original horror thriller “Malignant.”

[Watch the film’s new vignette at https://youtu.be/OCQ_H3_lwFE]  

A fresh, new brand of horror thriller with a surprising mystery, “Malignant” tells the story of Madison (Annabelle Wallis) who is paralyzed by shocking visions of grisly murders. Her torment worsens as she discovers that these waking dreams are in fact terrifying realities.

In the following interview, James Wan talks about “Malignant” and what makes supernatural ghost stories really scary.

Question: After establishing major franchises like the “Conjuring” Universe, what made you go back to your roots with an indie-style horror film?

James Wan: I love the gritty horror-thriller genre, and after many years away from it, I felt it was time to return to my indie roots, to the harder-hitting horror-thrillers of “Saw” and “Death Sentence.”  After “Aquaman” and between the “Conjuring” Universe movies and the “Insidious” films, I felt like I needed to cleanse my palate and step outside of the superhero and ghostly arenas to try something different.  This was very important for me.  To do something original.  Something bold.  “Malignant” is very much inspired by the kind of movies that I grew up loving.  One that is a loving throwback to the ’80s and early ’90s style of horror-thrillers like the kinds made by the great horror-maestros Dario Argento, Brian De Palma, Wes Craven, David Cronenberg.  But do it my way.  And to take this opportunity to try stuff that I haven’t done before, like exploring new themes and stories while experimenting with different aesthetic.  Who knows when I’ll get the chance to try something like this again?

Q: You managed to keep details about this film a secret for a long time, which is no easy feat!  It’s a huge mystery, nobody knows anything about it.  What are you ready to reveal now that the release is imminent?

Wan: The story is a “genre-blender”; the correct term is genre-bender, but it is also a genre blender in that it mixes a bunch of different genres that I love, from psychological thriller to the Italian Giallo horror to shades of science fiction.

The story is about a woman, Madison, played by Annabelle Wallis. Madison’s husband is killed in their home by an intruder and she’s left for dead. She’s pregnant and she loses her baby in that incident. She experiences major traumatic emotion from the incident and ends up developing a psychic connection to her attacker.  She starts having visions of the attacker and his murderous deeds. Now she’s trying to help the police capture this killer whilst trying to unravel the mystery of why she is connected to the killer and at the same time, trying to not get herself killed in the process.  It is my take on the “seeing through the eye of the killer” sub-genre.

Q: For your fans who don’t know what that is, can you describe what the Giallo style is and how that influences the film?

Wan: Giallo is literally Italian for Yellow, and is used to describe a type of lurid detective/crime novel that has become a genre of its own.  A style of murder mystery made popular in movies by Italian filmmakers such as Mario Bava, Dario Argento and many others, who took a well-worn style and reinvented it through their own filmmaking sensibility.  You can see shades of my love for this in “Saw,” and “Malignant” is basically my take on the Giallo genre.

Q: One of the things that fans love about you as a filmmaker is that simplification, that distillation of fear, exploring what creates and causes fear. In a James Wan movie, it’s not complicated, but, it’s effective, those little details.

Wan: It’s always the small things.  That’s why I think my supernatural ghost movies have worked  because I think I understand the simple, primal things that scare us, like the creaking of a door, a chair that moves on its own.  That’s all you need to do to send chills down someone’s spine.  It doesn’t have to get up and start chasing you with a knife, even though that’s a different kind of scare.  I feel I recognize the different degrees of scares, from my bloodier more shocking movies like “Saw,” to the creepier ones of the “Insidious” and “Conjuring” films.  Part of the fun is to traverse between these levels of frights, and the key is to present them in a fresh and unique way.   That’s what I tried to do with “Malignant”—lull them in with a familiar structure, and then hit them with something weird, unique, crazy, and wonderful.

In Philippine cinemas November 24, “Malignant,” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a WarnerMedia Company.  Connect with the hashtag #MalignantMovie

(ROHN ROMULO)