Movie Review: ‘Speak No Evil’ (2024)

Director: James Watkins

Cast: James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Aisling Franciosi, Scoot McNairy, Alix West Lefler, Dan Hough

Plot: An American couple and their daughter connect with another family while on holiday. After accepting an invitation to visit their new friends at their isolated farmhouse, the couple grow increasingly uncomfortable with the situation.

Review: Coming up to the release of Speak No Evil, James McAvoy described it as a ‘social horror’ movie and this stuck with us as a spot on descriptor. This is a violent and upsetting movie, but it takes a while to get there. Most of the running time builds up to the nightmare with increasingly uncomfortable situations. Like Get Out, we’re put through a protracted period of shifting awkwardly in our seats just hoping that our main characters will break the societal norms and get out of there.

Louise and Ben (Davis and McNairy) are struggling in their marriage, and right off the bat that this isn’t all explained to the audience in Big Print dialogue at the outset (looking at you Old) but something we unpack as the story progresses. There’s a certain discomfort and frustration between the two of them, and it stands in stark contrast the outgoing, loving and confident Paddy and Ciara (McAvoy and Franciosi). While Ben and Louise are stand-offish with each other, Paddy and Ciara are dancing in their underwear and living a full life. They are, as Paddy says later, a ‘bit much’.

With Louise and Ben in a rut and adjusting to a dreary life in London, they take up an invitation to stay with their new friends with the hope that it will breathe life into their marriage and help their daughter Agnus (Lefler) work on her anxiety. Upon arriving, problems between the couple are exacerbated by the less than ideal condition of the place and Paddy’s boisterous attitude. Standing in stark contrast to Paddy is his son Ant (Hough), a mute and reserved boy who forms a connection with Agnus.

As Paddy and Ciara’s provocative behaviour escalates from challenging Louise’s vegetarianism to acting out sexual acts during dinner, Ben and the Louise grow uncomfortable and argue about leaving. It’s only the natural instinct to avoid social taboos and not upset people that stay their hand. Meanwhile, Ant is desperately trying to alert Agnus to the disturbing truth behind his parents and what their true goal is.

If you’ve seen any of the marketing, you know that McAvoy and his performance is the centrepiece of the film. He’s a familiar type of person, one who uses manipulation and peer pressure with a bright smile to bully people into getting what he wants from that. The way he taps into Ben’s insecurities about his masculinity speaks heavily to the way ‘Manosphere’ influences scam their followers. He’s also quite to present as remorseful and misunderstood when called out, making his frustratingly difficult to deal with. As the main selling point of the movie, McAvoy delivers and is well supported by the rest of the cast bringing genuine feelings characters to the mix. This feels like a movie that focuses more on the performances over shock tactics, and it works.

One thing that stood out during our screening was the strong audience reactions. During one dialogue sequence between the leads you could sense everyone reacting as they noticed the detail in the background that suggests something more sinister was at play. By the time things ramped up to the explosive finale, people were certainly on the edge of their seat. The best thing we can say about Speak No Evil is that it’s effective.

That said, we can’t speak of the film without mentioning the jarring change to the final act. At one point, the decision was made to give this remake more of crowd-pleasing ending, and when put side-by-side this is going to seem kinda toothless. They’ve taken out what is the most distinctive and discussed aspects of the original and we can’t help but feel as though this betrays the artistic intent in favour of selling more tickets.

As an ASD audience member, this genuinely feels like a bout of anxious over-thinking brought to life. If you’re looking for a tense, creepy thriller with some solid twists then this is one of the better offerings. If you also want to hate yourself, you can also check out the original.

Rating: SEVEN out of TEN