‘SPEAK NO EVIL’ (2024) – Movie Review – PopHorror

We’ve all been around people who have made us feel uncomfortable and pushed social boundaries. And sometimes, there are people who are downright strange to the point of being sociopathic in their inappropriate behavior. This is an archetype executed to perfection by James McAvoy in Speak No Evil.

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An American remake of a 2022 Danish film (our review), Speak No Evil follows an American family, father Ben (Scoot McNairy: Monsters 2010), mother Louise (Mackenzie Davis: Terminator: Dark Fate 2019), and daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler: The King Tide 2023), as they vacation at the isolated residence of another seemingly friendly and carefree English family they had met on a previous vacation to Italy. As the week progresses, however, the host couple, Paddy (McAvoy) and Ciara (Aisling Franciosi: Stopmotion 2023), frequently exhibit bizarre behavior and conduct themselves inappropriately in the presence of their passive guests while their mute son, Ant (Dan Hough: Hollyoaks 2024), behaves timidly and fearfully in front of his parents.

Are the hosts innocent, untroubled country folk with unusual cultural habits? Or are they taking advantage of their guests’ pushover nature for more sinister intentions?

It is no question that McAvoy steals the show. His performance as Paddy is both charismatic and menacing, making for an uncomfortable and disturbing experience that our poor protagonists must endure under his umbrella, as they are shown to be incredibly meek and easy to prey upon. At all times McAvoy is hard to read, injecting echoes of his portrayal as the Horde from 2017’s Split. An irresistible presence shedding its skin once in the safety of its own environment like a true predator.

Such that the film does successfully capture the uncomfortable feeling of the Danish original, as the audience is kept wincing every scene as their sense of decency and manners are constantly offended, as a sort of twisted episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. For those who have never seen the Danish original, this will prove to be very effective. However, for those who have, it will be very familiar territory to the point that the first two-thirds of the film are almost beat-for-beat of the original.

It is in the third act where the film pivots extremely hard to deviate from the 2022 film, in a way that feels very Americanized. For those who have seen the Danish original, and its absolutely brutal final act, this remake falls short of that due to the changes made toward the end that had to have been implemented to play better for American audiences. In this respect, this version is definitely lesser than the original yet is still an effective end of summer chiller. And McAvoy’s performance is worth the price of admission alone.

Speak No Evil released on September 12, 2024, and is in theaters now!