An incredibly intense and scary follow-up to the surprise 2018 horror blockbuster, A Quiet Place Part II features director John Krasinski create a film strong in values of hope and life in its story of a family trying to survive a post-apocalyptic world.

Horror films are rarely built on the premise of hope. Whether it be The Mist, Hereditary, or many others, there is an inherent nihilism in the horror movie experience that fuels the dread and terror on display.

The 2018 hit A Quiet Place curbed that trend. Directed by John Krasinski, the film dared to tell a story of hope, family, and sacrifice in a post-apocalyptic world terrorised by blind alien monsters who hunt their prey by sound. It is an intense and scary watch, but one with a strong, positive depiction of humanity as an enduring and resourceful species, and one that depicts family not as burden but as hope.

A Quiet Place Part II continues this philosophical stance, and so much more. The film begins with the continuing adventures of the Abbott family – mother Evelyn (Emily Blunt), deaf daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds), son Marcus (Noah Jupe), and newborn baby – as they move on from their compound in search of a new sanctuary. This leads to Emmett (Cillian Murphy), a neighbour turned reclusive survivor who is forced to face his own demons when asked by the Abbott clan to help them survive a world in which both monster and man are hunting them down.

Before this, a prequel sequence is shown that tells the story of how these creatures came to terrorise Earth. Immediately we are showcased to Krasinski’s continued development as a filmmaker not only of intense horror scenes, but also as an action filmmaker who thrusts his viewers into an intense situation as blood thirsty creatures tear small-town America to shreds.

The editing by Michael P. Shawver (Creed) helps Krasinski develop an excellent use of pace and horror filmmaking beats that go beyond the usual jump-scare nonsense, further enhanced by a crack sound-effects team that continue the lauded work of the first movie. There are stakes throughout A Quiet Place Part II that many horror thrillers would kill to have, a palpable fear of the deadly consequence that arise when silence is broken in a world slave to monsters menacing, murderous, and mysterious.

So to does Krasinski deliver a film of perseverance and hope, in which a family unit rely on one another to survive, to fight, and have faith in the power to overcome. A horror movie that portrays what it is to live, as opposed to thriving on the spectacle of death.