Speak No Evil (2024) – Review

“SPEAK NO EVIL”

Speak No Evil is directed by Woman In Black and Mafia director James Watkins and is a remake of a Danish film from 2022 that was released to the horror-themed streaming service Shudder. 

This one changes the film’s setting to be in the West Country, though it starts in Italy, with an American family living in the UK. Louise, Ben, and their daughter Agnes, played by Mackenzie Davies, Scoot McNairy, and Alix West Lefler respectively, who make friends with the husband-and-wife Paddy and Ciara as well as their son Ant, played by James McAvoy, Aisling Franciosi, and Dan Hough.

After being charmed, they decide to take up the offer to spend the weekend in the West Country at their house for a getaway. It’s very clear from the moment they arrive that something is up with this family. The film does a decent job to keep you guessing, but even if you haven’t seen the trailer, you can kind of guess where it’s going. 

I haven’t seen the 2022 Danish film as I don’t have a Shudder account currently, and in fact until I was informed by my colleague Elliot, I wasn’t too aware that it was a remake at all, though it certainly explains why there was a gag early on about a boring Danish couple that annoy the other hotel guests that they’re staying with. 

Obviously, we know that James McAvoy can do horror adjacent movies, we saw it in Split, which obviously had its problematic elements, but is a decently done horror/thriller. In this instance, they give him pretty good direction and I would stress you shouldn’t go into this film expecting too many answers. 

I actually think that it is to this film’s benefit that they are a bit coy about all of the facts. Even when we get to some of the plot twists for this as the film goes on, it’s never really made clear what actually is true and what isn’t- but it’s not necessary, if anything, the fear of the unknown kind of works in the favour of this movie. 

I will stress that the acting is pretty much great overall. The actors do a good job building tension throughout the sequences. You know something bad is going to happen, but you’re never sure what and when. I think the film does a good job coming up with very good reasons as to why they simply don’t just leave when they have that moment of revelation that things are not quite as they seem. 

That being said, there are elements where the film can be quite campy, but I think it’s on purpose and I think it even adds to the film rather than subtracting from it. But I will be interested in how different audience members will react to these elements. 

The film is shot brilliantly. They really do well making the environment look very inviting, and it’s a good advert for tourism for the West Country. 

But, Speak No Evil does have a very extended climax. The final part of the film does stretch out the runtime a little bit, but this is a Blumhouse production, so they are known for that, though I do find it interesting that this film is 13 minutes longer than the original.

I would also stress that there are some character motivations that are left a little bit on the table, which I think might frustrate some people. It wasn’t for me, but I can’t speak for everyone.