A Quiet Place was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time, but as a writer I find myself picking apart the plot holes. Every story has gaps or inconsistencies in logic. The trick is how you cover them up.
Loudspeakers and Distraction
The creatures in the film are drawn to the loudest sounds and ignore anything softer. It seems the simplest solution is to mount a bunch of loudspeakers around the farm and play loud white noise to mask simple noises such as talking or squeaky floorboards. Or you could use the loudspeakers as distractors, playing brief loud noises to draw the creatures away from your position.
Distractions are another problem. Every time you get cornered by a creature, all you need is an egg timer or fireworks. A pocketful of rocks and something to throw them against could get you out of just about any situation.
Fix:
I’ve seen my cat stand very still and watch for mice. She knows where she’s likely to find them and how they behave. These creatures must be at least as intelligent as a cat. They can recognize the difference between artificial sound and the real thing. Loudspeakers would be destroyed as annoyances. Using an egg timer might work the first time, but after that the creature would know an intelligent prey lurks nearby. A pattern of distraction might actually help the creature zero in on your location. It might ignore a louder sound and concentrate on quieter sounds that it associates with food, such as breathing or footsteps. To avoid detection, the best options are natural silence and very limited use of distractions.
Waterfalls
So why not just live by the waterfall or river? These are natural sounds.
Fix:
Convenience is one possible answer. Unless you already have a house by the river, you would be camping at best. Silence at the farm might be preferable. If all human survivors flocked to the rivers, they would draw too much attention and the area would become unsafe. The most compelling excuse, though, may be that the creatures need to drink also, so you’re more likely to encounter them there.
The Nail in the Stairs
Creaky floorboards can be dangerous, so you mark the specific places where it’s safe to step. On the stairs into your basement you have an upside-down nail that was apparently pounded flat before the invasion, yet not removed. It’s sticking up enough that a laundry bag can snag on it. I watched the movie twice and maybe I’ve got it wrong, but it looked to me like that nail was in the middle of a place marked as safe. Can a pounded-down nail really flip upright like that? How did the nail get upside down in the first place? Was someone under the stairs, pounding a nail upwards? It doesn’t make much sense.
Fix:
If this was my story, I’d try to rework the situation so we had a more believable scenario for the foot injury. The nail is just too problematic. The best fix would be to have that section of the step marked as unsafe. While marking safe steps, the father found the nail but didn’t dare remove it because of the noise it might make. So he painted that section of the step red. In distressed circumstances, the mother rushed down the stairs and simply put her foot in the wrong place.
Power and Water
The farm has both power and water, but the source is never revealed. After a year, it’s unlikely the local utilities are still running. A generator would attract too much noise.
Fix:
Solar panels on the house and collected rainwater stored in a tower.
Time of Water Leak
A creature rampages through the barn, breaking a water pipe. Enough time passes that the characters can bandage wounds and be unconscious for a while. The father then leaves a basement room just as it starts to flood. Why did it take so long for the water to start gushing? Why didn’t the father notice?
Fix:
Some debris fell across the mattress covering the basement room. When the father shifted the debris during his exit, he moved something that was slowing or stopping the leak from the broken pipe. (That’s about as unbelievable as the nail in the stairs, but it’s all I can come up with right now.)
Origins and Sustainability
Where did these creatures come from? Although an answer isn’t necessary for the storyline, it’s an interesting question to consider. These creatures don’t seem to be intelligent enough to build and pilot spacecraft. Apparently they’re on every continent, which would rule out some sort of mutation that spread. They are incredibly fast and armored.
These creatures conquered most of the world in just three months. The film features a farm with no cows, chickens, dogs, or cats – after a year. At that rate, how long will the creatures have anything left to eat?
My favorite theory is biological warfare. A yet-unseen force of alien invaders seeded the Earth with an engineered species of killers with the intent of wiping out all indigenous animal and intelligent life forms. The creatures breed and grow quickly, overwhelming the local population before turning on themselves and finally dying off from starvation. The conquerors, possibly bipedal humanoids, would then move into the abandoned cities, bringing their own, preferred forms of animal life.
The other option is the creatures were accidentally brought to Earth. Having no natural predators here , they become an invasive species. Not quite as fun a theory for building storylines on. And they would overwhelm one continent, leaving the rest of the world safe.
Where to Go From Here
At the end of the film, surveillance cameras show creatures running (towards the house?) and the mother and daughter prepare to fight. What happens now that they know how to kill the creatures?
At night the nearby survivors light fires to let others know they’re still alive. The family from the film could contact the other survivors and they could band together to hunt creatures. At first they might lure creatures to the basement of the old farmhouse, but eventually they would make the equipment portable and set up ambushes in other locations. The town would eventually become a safe haven. Families would work their farms during the day, then retreat to town at night.
Second Film
Every successful film has a sequel (except E. T.: the Extra Terrestrial.)
The town has grown to the point that an expedition to the nearest city becomes necessary. They can’t let their supplies of ammunition run low. Although they’ve had success in keeping the creatures out of their valley, they would like to extend the fight and bring a permanent end to the invasion. After monitoring the shortwave radio for months, they finally contact someone in a nearby big city who says he has the supplies and skill to mass-produce creature-hunting equipment, if they can bring him safely back to their town.
Following instructions from their contact, the team enters the city at night under the cover of chirping crickets. However, they detect nearby creatures who seem unusually still, as if waiting and watching.
Conditions in the city take them completely by surprise. Survivors are plentiful and anything but friendly. They end up fighting off survivors who attempt to steal their supplies. Then creatures storm the streets, causing the city-dwellers to flee in a “I can’t outrun the bear, but I can outrun you” free-for-all. Normal country tactics fail to work and the team takes some loses. The creatures each take one victim, passing over pregnant women and small children, then retreat outside the city limits.
The team meets the short-wave radio operator at the designated rendezvous, but he turns out to be a captive pawn of a gang of thieves. They used his knowledge of electronics to lure the team to the city with false information and promises, but their only intent is to escape the city. The creatures are very protective of their food supply. They let anyone enter the city, but no one gets out alive.
The thieves seize the team’s weapons and supplies, then offer to let them join in the escape. All but one member of the team opt to remain behind, along with the short-wave operator, who the thieves refuse to allow to come.
From a building bordering the edge of the city, the team watches the thieves attempt to leave. They appear to stage an ambush in the area between the city’s edge and where the creatures keep their line. The creatures swarm and the thieves scatter, none of them making it out alive.
The team ponders what to do. They don’t know if the equipment was ineffective against this variation of the creatures or if the one member of the team who went with them sabotaged their efforts and died in the process.
The team’s options are to remain in the city and attempt to find some new way of fighting the creatures, or attempt an immediate second attempt at escape. They decide on the latter. The creatures, having just eaten, may abide by the one-per-day rule. Although perhaps they ate earlier and merely killed the escapees.
The group approaches the ambush site very slowly and quietly. The challenge is to gather the scattered weapons and repair the creature-disabling equipment. They won’t stage an ambush, with so many of the creatures around, but instead plan to sacrifice one of the devices as a distraction while they run through the enemy line.
At the last moment, though, their leader changes the plan and they use no distractions. They sneak slowly past the creatures using natural silence only. Although past the enemy line, they still have little prospect for escaping because the way ahead looks noisy. Then the morning sun falls across the city and the creatures stampede into the streets for their morning feed. The team runs as long and fast as they’re able before stopping to look at the distant city. They feel guilty about abandoning the unfortunates left behind, but vow to find a way to return and fight.
As they take the long journey to their hometown, the shortwave operator examines their electronics and begins drawing up plans for improvements. And he mentions tales of a nearby abandoned city, rumored to be riff with supplies and an industrial district that manufactured electronics.
Third Film
Every film series has to be a trilogy, right? The third film would be a great time to examine the origins of our creatures. Several cities have been liberated and turned into safe havens. Reports come in of a possible “seeding” site, a place where the yet-unseen overlords released their killing creatures into the wild. A large structure thought to be an alien spaceship sits in the middle of a city zoo.
Some members of our team from the second film return for the third, but it would be nice to personalize this film a bit more and include the daughter from the first film. They approach the “seeding” site with the intent to observe, but they are quickly attacked – not by the killing creatures, but by high-tech weaponry. The daughter (Hang on, let me check IMDB) – Regan Abbott – (Did they even say that name in the film?) is captured.
Regan wakes in a bright, sterile environment. She can hear, for the first time in her life. She has scars indicating a recent operation. The bipedal humanoids appear, speaking amongst themselves while observing her. Regan struggles to understand what’s happening. One of the aliens seems to speak very poor
English – she can tell by lip reading – but she can’t quite understand the words.
The aliens give up with communication and take her through many corridors, until they reach a human boy about her age. Having been captured a couple years earlier, he speaks both languages and is able to translate. The aliens are merely curious about her speech impediment, the boy explains, otherwise they probably would have dissected her.
Regan answers all of the aliens questions, but none of them are about her team (like they’re not important) and they won’t answer any of her questions. They end up leaving her with the boy. They don’t even seem to be locked or caged in.
The boy explains that this group of aliens are scientists gathering historical samples of the local wildlife – which they are currently wiping out. The city zoo is fully operational and expanding.
And here we have a great beginning, but no middle or end. Let’s see. A third film should end the alien invasion, by the action of the few main characters. Put that on the wish list.
I’m not in the mood for big space battles, so we probably want to convince the aliens to abandon their invasion plans. Humans are already in resurgence, reclaiming cities and mass-producing weapons. Maybe one or more of these scientists are sympathetic and end up helping the humans. Regan might help tip loyalties somehow. The killing creatures might have a special weakness that the aliens planned to use to wipe them out, maybe a chemical that could be sprayed from aircraft.
Regan and our unnamed translator steal the formula (or a sample), escape from the zoo, then rejoin the team and get back to safety. When the aliens discover the humans have the means to kills the creatures in mass, they (except for any traitors) abandon the planet, never to return.
Fourth Film
Oh, yeah. Of course there’s a fourth. To prevent a second invasion, the surviving humans use alien tech to build a fleet that will take the fight to the aliens’ homeworld. (How many times have we heard that plotline, only to have the promised sequel never materialize?)
Waterworld
Think of this as a spin-off. Armored creatures swam the land, killing everything in sight. I’d hop on a boat.
So we have one of those ginormous cruise ships, just about to dock at the end of a cruise, only to discover panic on shore and people being massacred by strange creatures. The captain orders a quick reverse and all the passengers on the ship successfully escape.
Or do they?
After a couple of days at sea, food begins to run short. A hurricane approaches. And something is seen crawling up the edge of the ship at night . . .
