EMILY Blunt returns to screens this week in the long awaited sequel to John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place. Grab your popcorn and nestle in but, for goodness sake, try not to make too much of a crunch munching it.

Whereas part one opened very much in medias res, A Quiet Place Part II launches with a flashback. It’s a helpful refresher. Here is a world in which the arrival of blind but super sound sensitive aliens on to the scene has all but wiped out the human population of Earth. Survival depends on silence. One wrong noise and you’re doomed.

Krasinski opens Part II over a year prior to its predecessor, with the moment a blinding light in the sky changed everything. Flash forward to the present day and the Abbott family continue to survive by the skin of their teeth.

Blunt leads as family matriarch Evelyn, whose husband Lee (Krasinski), fans will remember, sacrificed himself last time around. The lingering pain is very much present here. Noah Jupe plays Evelyn’s son Marcus, with Millicent Simmonds as her deaf daughter Regan. It’s the monster-busting high frequency of Regan’s hearing aids that continue to ensure the Abbott’s survival.

Survival is, however, no longer enough. With Lee lost, A Quiet Place Part II finds Evelyn on the hunt for fellow survivors. It’s not long before they stumble across Emmett (Cillian Murphy), an old friend of Lee’s. Years on the edge have hardened Emmett but perhaps a young girl with a fierce imagination can reignite his faith.

A Quiet Place proved to be something of a sleeper hit back in 2018. Modest beginnings gradually shifting toward near universal adoration. Part II has high expectations to meet. Unlike Andy Muschietti’s follow up to It, however, I suspect this horror sequel will just about meet them.

Also out this week, Dream Horse offers feel good charm in its depiction of how a little Welsh village raised and reared a thoroughbred racehorse. Toni Colette leads a super cast, which also features Damien Lewis, Owen Teale and Joanna Page.

Colette, an Australian, more or less captures the accent of the Valleys and yet never fails to nail the spirit of its locality. An alumnus of Doctor Who, Euros Lyn, meanwhile, directs with a rye eye for the beauty of ordinary life. It’s all rather predictable.

It’s all rather lovely.