I have a good friend at work who shares the same tastes in movies as me. He told me the other day about Speak No Evil and, annoyingly, ruined part of the story by accident. It wasn’t too big a deal, but I decided to give it a watch anyway.
Speak No Evil is a remake of a Dutch movie, of the same name, from 2022. This English remake stars James McAvoy, Aisling Franciosi, Scoot McNairy, Mackenzie Davis, Agnes Dalton, and Dan Hough. It’s directed by James Watkins and written by him, Christian, and Mads Tafdrup.
Watkins is an asshole! I mean that in a good way as I love to hate him or hate to love him. He directed Eden Lake, which is still one of the most harrowing movies I’ve ever seen. And that’s me talking, I honestly put Eden Lake in the “I never want to see it again” category. He also directed an episode of Black Mirror, Shut Up and Dance. If you know the episode, you know what an asshole he is.
The Story
The story for Speak No Evil is:
A family is invited to spend a whole weekend in a lonely home in the countryside, but as the weekend progresses, they realize that a dark side lies within the family who invited them.
We start off in Italy and an American couple, Ben (McNairy) and Louise (Davis) are in a hotel and just there for a quiet break with their daughter (Dalton). They bump into Paddy (McAvoy) and Ciara (Franciosi) and their son.
They are dubious at first, but ending being invited back to Paddy and Ciara’s home in the West Country of England, near where I live actually. Ben and Louise are reluctant at first but think a break in the countryside would be a good thing.
They arrive and everything goes nicely and they all become friends and live happily ever after. No, wait, this wasn’t written by someone trying to appeal to the “modern audience”. Things obviously start getting weird and that’s all I’ll spoil of the story.
The West Country
By ‘eck, me ‘ansome. I lives in the Wess Countray and I knowses De’nshire betta then the back of me ‘airy knuckles!
Speak No Evil did take place near me, there were a few local landmarks I know rather well. It was nice to see them in a “big” movie.
This does lead me to a small issue – McAvoy’s accent. I couldn’t place it at first, but towards the third act, I figured he was trying the Devon accent. It was not the best, in fact, I was offended, so much so that I am now planning on having him cancelled.
No, I’m being overly picky, it’s just I do love my mother’s tongue. Is it ‘mother’s tongue’ or ‘mother tongue’? I think one of those is really, really bad and something that definitely does not happen in the West Country…anymore.
The Cast
The entire cast is very good. The main focus is Paddy and McAvoy plays him well. At first he seems pretty cool and the kind of guy you would want to hang out with. By the end of the movie, you realize you should have listened to all the horror movies you have ever seen and stayed well away.
I like the rest of the cast, I’ve got a soft spot for McNairy. He’s very chill and seems like a cool guy to hang out with. I saw him first in Monsters from 2010. His character was very cool and I liked him. He is very good in Speak No Evil.
The young lad playing Paddy’s son, Hough, is very good. I won’t spoil much, but that kid gives a smashing performance.
Overall
On the one hand, Speak No Evil is a fairly straightforward affair and a little cliche in places. A movie like this is about the characters and the “what would I do in these circumstances” reaction in the viewer.
You never really trust Paddy, obviously, as there is no movie otherwise. If you have seen the trailer, again, there’s only one way the movie can go. It’s about each time Ben and Louise try to get away and how each time they just can’t.
It’s a good conclusion, but not up to Watkins’ usual standard. Again, I won’t spoil things, but there is definitely an end to the movie and it is pretty conclusive.
Speak No Evil gets a ‘middle of the road’ 2.5 out of 5 stars from me. It’s nothing that original, but it’s still a good thriller. Something to chill to of an evening, but not for the faint of heart.
It’s one of those movies that, if I sat down with Mrs. Boba Phil and made her watch it, she would have been pretty annoyed and not spoken to me for a while afterward. Hmmm, that gives me an idea.
Speak No Evil is on Amazon Prime Rental.
