Speak No Evil – A Solid Horror Remake

Speak No Evil is an American remake from Blumhouse of the 2022 Danish film of the same name. Following the same plot as the original, Speak No Evil centers around an American family; Ben (McNairy), Louise (Davis), and Agnes (Alix West Lefler) as they are invited to spend the weekend at the idyllic country estate of Paddy (McAvoy), Ciara (Aisling Franciosi) and their young son Ant (Dan Hough) whom they befriended on a recent vacation. What begins as a dream holiday in the country, soon takes a dark and psychological turn as Ben and Louise soon realize that something dark hides within their hosts for the weekend. A shockingly good remake, it may have many audiences favor it over the bleak original.

Ultimately, it is impossible to talk about this remake without at least relating it to the original Danish film which released less than 2 years ago and made quite the impact with those who dared to watch it and stomach its ending. While the original is arguably the more technically well made of the two and is more effective at getting its point across, it is actually shocking to see just how strong, well made, and effective this remake is as a whole. James Watkins is a super talented director, and he builds tension extremely well, keeping the story constantly engaging and tense despite its slow burn nature. Like the original, the remake features some brilliant commentary on social norms and behaviour, and overall, the changes the filmmakers made this time around work especially in a third act which is definitely more palatable for North American audiences.

That being said, what truly makes this remake stand out and worth watching is a brilliant performance from McAvoy. Paddy is equally charming as he is chilling, as McAvoy strikes the perfect balance between the two vastly different tones. In one scene, he seems like the type of dude one would genuinely want to hang out and grab a beer with while in others, he is a complete and utter sociopath one would never want to run into or come across. Davis is quite strong here as well. Louise is the character the audiences will inevitably latch onto most and get behind as he makes some smart choices and is part of a lot of great moments in the third act. McNairy, meanwhile, is solid and although Ben is a frustrating character by design, he does a great job in the role while Franciosi also impresses as Clara. While the cast is great across the board, despite the size of their respective roles, the film is truly McAvoy’s show from start to finish and is easily the thing most audiences will be take away from it long after the credits roll.

For those who have seen the original film, they shouldn’t expect much in the way of surprises and outside of the third act, it essentially amounts to a beat-for-beat English language remake which may hinder one’s viewing experience depending on their expectations going in. For the type of thriller that it is, the film does run a tad too long and like the original, it features a few scenes that do feel a bit repetitive and redundant. But other than some minor gripes, the result is a rock solid horror thriller that successfully updates its source material for North American audiences. While it may not be a complete home run or rank among the best films of the year, it is arguably Blumhouse’s strongest release of the year, which after looking at their track record, is not exactly a high bar.

still courtesy of Universal Pictures

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/