I’m not a fan of horror movies. I don’t even like the trailers. But there are a few which I do like, because they’re less about the monsters and more about humanity—as in the humanity of humanity.

The Quiet Place trilogy is one of those, including and especially the latest installment, A Quiet Place: Day One. This prequel follows the terminally ill poet, Samira (played by the talented Lupita Nyong’o), on the first day of the alien invasion. (What does a terminally ill person do at the end of the world?)

But the aliens are really just a backdrop to the real drama (which is of course heightened by the lack of dialogue in the series). As the Nerdist’s reviewer explains, “A Quiet Place: Day One is a haunting human look at mortality, connections, and little moments that make living worthwhile.”

For fellow Shapers of Earthseed, there is an enjoyable Easter egg hidden in the film. At one point, Samira recovers a paperback copy of Octavia Butler’s Dawn from the rubble. There’s some interesting parallels. Both Samira and Butler are Black writers. Butler is writing about an invasion and human apocalypse, Samira is experiencing one.

For those familiar with Butler’s Parable series, but not Dawn, the latter is the first installment of the Xenogenesis trilogy (and I think the best of the three). It follows Lilith, a human survivor of a human-caused apocalypse that nearly exterminated humankind.

The few survivors are rescued by an alien race, who condition the perpetuation of humanity on the condition that they merge genetically with the alien race. The aliens hope to breed the fatal hierarchicalism out of humanity (in addition to giving them amazing new abilities). The aliens understand that the only way to survive long-term is constant adaptation. I see the Xenogenesis series as a narrative application of the principles of Earthseed articulated in the Book of the Living.

The reference to Dawn in A Quiet Place: Day One is relatively brief, but rewarding nonetheless. The movie is a beautiful and moving study of human connection in the face of mortality. So go see it. And check out Octavia Butler’s Dawn while you’re at it!