The Reel Review
After meeting while vacationing in Tuscany, an American expat family new to London agrees to spend a weekend at their new friends’ home in the English countryside. But when their hosts start acting strangely and inappropriately, they just can’t seem to work up the nerve to end their visit early. James McEvoy and Mackenzie Davis star in this remake of the chilling 2022 Danish horror/thriller.
Like its predecessor, this film is about the perils of allowing politeness to overrule gut instincts. The houseguests endure some appalling and inappropriate behavior, pretending all is fine so as not to offend their increasingly peculiar hosts. McEvoy channels a charismatic, manipulative persona reminiscent of his performance in 2017’s Split, but it is an excellent young Alix West Lefler (Fire Country, The King Tide) who stands out as 12-year-old Agnes – the lone voice of reason in this adult charade of madness. When young Ant (an also excellent Dan Hough) reveals the hosts’ true motives, Agnes convinces her already rattled mother, Davis’ Louise, to go into full momma bear mode, horrified by both her hosts’ behavior and her spineless husband’s refusal to stand up to them, played so infuriatingly well by Scoot McNairy (Argo, Monsters) that you’ll be rooting for his demise on multiple occasions.
Writer/director James Watkins (The Woman in Black, Eden Lake) mirrors the Danish film’s story until the final 30 minutes, when he deviates into an American-styled, action-packed potboiler. While this version of Speak No Evil is a nail-biting crowd pleaser, it also is far less disturbing, lacking the nuanced gravitas of the much more sinister, Danish original.
REEL FACTS
• When he first saw the Danish film, director James Watkins said its dark ending reminded him of his own 2008 horror/thriller Eden Lake, not knowing that Christian Tafdrup, the co-writer/director of the Danish film, had used Eden Lake as one of the inspirations for his story. Watkins says he purposely changed his ending to reflect his American protagonists more combative nature compared to the more passive and polite Danes.
• James McEvoy says he didn’t watch the Danish version until just after completing this version, so as not to let it influence his performance. McEvoy says he was very impressed with the Danish version.
• Speak No Evil was filmed mostly in Gloucester, England, with Croatia standing in for Tuscany.
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