Does Frodo The Cat Die In A Quiet Place: Day One?
Contains spoilers for "A Quiet Place: Day One"
"A Quiet Place: Day One" is the earliest movie set in the "A Quiet Place" timeline, and tells the story of the very first day the murderous, blind alien monsters with super-hearing arrive on Earth. As the viewer can expect, this particular close encounter involves a ton of carnage, horror, and desperation. This is why it's so concerning that one of the film's major characters is a very cool cat called Frodo, who works as a service animal for Sam (Lupita Nyong'o in her first horror film after her terrifying double role as Adelaide and Red in "Us") and steals the show. Frodo has his share of close calls in the film, so the viewer might wonder whether he makes it through the movie. Fortunately, he does.
It turns out that cats are very good at being quiet. While Frodo has his noisy moments, he eventually seems to figure out what the alien "Death Angels" are all about, and simply enters a non-meowing stealth mode that allows him to survive the events of the film.
The director put a lot of thought into Frodo's feline survival skills
Frodo's ability to survive among the movie's monstrous aliens is impressive, but it's not as far-fetched as you might think. In an interview with Variety, "A Quiet Place: Day One" director Michael Sarnoski explained that Frodo's combination of basic cat abilities and service animal skills give him an extra edge when it comes to observing and understanding other creatures — including the Death Angels. "I figured he was very obedient. If Sam said, 'Be quiet,' he would," Sarnoski said. "Cats can be extremely quiet. They're predators, they can stop and move very silently, and I figured, game recognizes game. So when a cat saw these creatures operating, they're like, 'I get you, I'm going to just kind of keep it down.'"
Even if Frodo wasn't a service animal, Sarnoski feels that he and quite possibly other cats may find a way to quietly thrive in a human-free environment, rampaging alien beasts or not. "A lot of [meowing] is put on as a way of communicating with humans," the director said. "So, I thought it'd be interesting in the apocalypse, that if there weren't really people around, there's not as much of a need for a cat to meow."
Does this imply that while the Death Angels have little trouble culling noisier species like humans and dogs, cats of the world are able to carry on business as usual by simply keeping quiet and avoiding bumping into the roaming aliens? Perhaps one day, another "A Quiet Place" movie introduces viewers to a world that's now effectively ruled by cats.