Speak No Evil: 2024 American Psychological Thriller Film Review

Speak No Evil – 2024 Film by James Watkins – is about ‘A family is invited to spend a weekend in an idyllic country house, unaware that their dream vacation will soon become a psychological nightmare‘. Starring James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis & Scoot McNairy

Movie Name: Speak No Evil
Directed by: James Watkins
Starring: James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Aisling Franciosi, Alix West Lefler, Dan Hough, Scoot McNairy
Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Running Time: 110 Minutes
Release Date: 13 September, 2024
Rating:
Production Companies: Blumhouse Productions
Budget: –

When an American family is invited to spend the weekend at the idyllic country estate of a charming British family they befriended on vacation, what begins as a dream holiday soon warps into a snarled psychological nightmare.

Speak No Evil: 2024 Psychological Thriller

Speak No Evil is an upcoming American psychological thriller film written and directed by James Watkins. It is a remake of the 2022 Danish film of the same name. The film stars James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Aisling Franciosi, Alix West Lefler, Dan Hough, and Scoot McNairy. Jason Blum serves as a producer through his Blumhouse Productions banner.

Speak No Evil is scheduled to be released in the United States by Universal Pictures on September 13, 2024.

James Watkins wrote and directed the film for Blumhouse Productions. It is a remake of the 2022 Danish film of the same name. In April 2023, James McAvoy and Mackenzie Davis were reported to be in the cast. The following month, Scoot McNairy joined the cast.

Principal photography took place in Croatia and Gloucester, England, in May and was expected to end in July, before filming was suspended five days before it was to wrap up due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. In mid-November, production resumed in the United Kingdom.

Speak No Evil is scheduled to be released in theaters by Universal Pictures on September 13, 2024. It was originally scheduled to be released on August 9.

Movie Trailer:

Movie Review:

James McAvoy lights up this host-from-hell shocker

A rare psychological horror film that quietly chills to the bone without too much gore or creep chords, while cleverly relying on the implied and imagination to effectively do the heavy lifting

Trailers are really the wickedest things, especially in Speak No Evil, where having watched the trailer every Friday from forever, you know James McAvoy’s character is superbly dodgy. Though that twist is killed thanks to the trailer, Speak No Evil is so cleverly written that one is permanently on the edge of one’s seat, watching as the unsuspecting family get pulled into a cesspit of dreadful terror.

Adapted from Christian Tafdrup’s eponymous 2022 Danish film (the bleak ending has been changed), Speak No Evil starts with an American couple, Ben (Scoot McNairy) and Louise (Mackenzie Davis) vacationing in Tuscany with their daughter, Agnes (Alix West Lefler). They meet a charismatic English couple, Paddy (James McAvoy) and Ciara (Aisling Franciosi) and their son Ant (Dan Hough), who has a speech impediment.

The two families get on well, and once they return to England, Paddy invites Ben and Louise to spend a weekend with them at their country house in the North Country. Though Louise has some reservations (we, who have seen the trailer, silently urge her to listen to her gut), they go anyway.

Louise is uncomfortable, on many levels, from being forced to eat Libby the goose (especially killed for the occasion, despite Paddy knowing she is vegetarian) to the mysterious stain on the bed covers; Ben tries to explain it away as cultural differences.

Paddy reveals himself to be unpredictable with a possible cruel streak. Paddy forcing Ben to pick up the tab after inviting them out to dinner to his friend Mike’s (Kris Hichen) restaurant, and leaving the children with a unknown babysitter Muhjid (Motaz Mulhees) unsettles Ben and Louise.

Ant is desperate to communicate with Agnes, who at first does not understand… and when she finally does, is so shocked that her parents almost do not believe her. Will they be able to get away from their aggressively charming hosts?

McAvoy is mesmeric as the charismatic and sinister Paddy, conveying swathes of disquiet with a mere glint of his eye. Director Watkins, who has also written the screenplay, drops hints of the horrors to come and those that have already taken place. There is mention of the obsession with showing one’s fake best versions for social media and the importance of honesty.

There is not a scene, frame, sequence or snatch of dialogue that is extraneous. Everything in the film is there for a reason. Ben and Louise’ back-story is also implied — they are not just nameless screaming victims.

Cinematographer Tim Maurice-Jones has created a visual stunner right from the opening scene where his handling of the many sources of light, from the headlights of the car, the dashboard light and the reflection of the boy’s face in the rearview mirror, to the porch light of the farmhouse, is masterful.

Speak No Evil is that rare horror film that chills to the bone without too much gore, echoing what Paddy says in another context — what we imagine is a thousand fold more than what we can do. Truer words have not been said, mate!