An American couple are on an Italian holiday in Tuscany with their young daughter. They are Ben and Louise Dalton (Scoot McNairy and MacKenzie Davis). Among the others on holiday are a rather boring Danish couple that Ben and Louise attempt to avoid and in doing so, they end up spending time with a friendly British couple Paddy and Ciara (James McAvoy and Aisling Franciosi). They have a son Ant (Dan Hough) who is close in age to the Daltons’ daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler).
The Americans and the Brits lunch, drink and party together, more than once and so the holiday becomes more fun, rather than the laidback experience the Daltons were having at first. When it’s time for the couples to leave for home, Paddy invites Ben and Louise to spend time with them back in England in the West Country.
The Americans are having difficulties in their relationship and their daughter has a problem with anxiety. After spending some time back in their London home, they decide to take up the offer to stay with their new friends. They imagine that getting away from the pressures of their normal life will somehow help all three of them. The car journey is a long one and when they finally arrive at their destination, they discover they’re staying in a secluded property which is very rustic and very different to their own sleek home and living standards.
Ben and Louise feel ill-at-ease about the atmosphere of the farmhouse and the expectations of their hosts, but their desire not to rock-the-boat and somehow insult Ciara and Paddy, means they force themselves to endure several moments of social awkwardness that first night. This is the essence of the first half of the movie. We watch as Ben and Louise second-guess each other and try to assess their hosts and themselves. The metaphorical ground keeps shifting under their feet and their disunity prevents them from making decisions.
This middle-class doubt and politeness was also in the original 2022 Danish film Gæsterne that SPEAK NO EVIL is based on (the Danish original’s English title is also Speak No Evil). That film was written and directed by Christian Tafdrup and the cultural difference there is between a Danish and a Dutch couple. That film quickly built a reputation for its bleakness and brutality. This American remake is the work of English director James Watkins whose movies EDEN LAKE (2008) and THE WOMAN IN BLACK (2012) had brought him to the attention of independent production company Blumhouse. After agreeing to working on the remake, Watkins decided to make the last third of the film more action-oriented and less dark than the Danish original. He is on record as saying this was less about making a more friendly and commercial movie, but that he wanted a different style of conclusion to his own EDEN LAKE which was also known for having a dark ending.
The psychological horror movie that results is a well-made and carefully considered piece of filmmaking. McAvoy uses his considerable skills to create a complex character that embodies a disparate range of emotions and motivations. Paddy’s anger, charm and demands for attention are exhausting and impossible to ignore. He fills up a room with his personality and Louise and Ben feel pinned down by this charismatic button-pusher. MacKenzie Davis’s Louise is a woman who is deeply pissed-off at where she is in her life. Paddy and Louise are the leaders in their respective couples and ultimately, they are headed for a collision.
The slow-burn of the story leaves one in no doubt that the pressure is building and will need to be released, however this escalation is cleverly built and rarely predictable. This is not a film that relies on jump scares, instead the audience is kept in suspense waiting to see if the next moment will unleash these characters to reveal their true nature.
SPEAK NO EVIL is an exciting movie that artfully combines its psychological horror and suspense and even weaves in moments of comedy. The result is an exciting and ultimately satisfying tale.
Run Time: 110 minutes Rating: 8/10
