Speak No Evil (2024) Universal/Horror-Thriller RT: 110 minutes Rated R (some strong violence, language, some sexual content, brief drug use) Director: James Watkins Screenplay: James Watkins Music: Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans Cinematography: Tim Maurice-Jones Release date: September 13, 2024 (US) Cast: James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, Aisling Franciosi, Alix West Lefler, Dan Hough, Kris Hitchen, Motaz Malhees.
Rating: **
Finally, all three parts of the Three Wise Monkeys proverb have been cinematically represented. See No Evil, a thriller starring Mia Farrow as a blind woman, came out in 1971. The 2006 slasher of the same name is completely unrelated. In 1993, Marlee Matlin played a deaf woman stalked by a dirty cop in the thriller Hear No Evil. Now we have Speak No Evil, an American remake of a Danish thriller that came out about two years ago. It took long enough; pity it wasn’t worth the prolonged wait.
I’ve not seen the original Speak No Evil, which I understand is great, but I have a feeling we’re looking at a situation similar to The Vanishing from more than 30 years ago. When the excellent 1988 Dutch thriller was remade in America, the makers changed the effectively bleak ending to a happier one where the hero triumphs and the villain pays for his sins. That’s exactly what happens in Speak No Evil. And before you go screaming at me for dropping a spoiler, the trailer beat me to it. If you’ve been to the cinema even once in the past few months, chances are you’ve seen it. It’s been running all summer before every movie. It spells out the whole thing. There are literally no surprises or unexpected developments.
This is where I find myself in something of a quandary. Assuming I’m right about the changed ending, it’s the best part of Speak No Evil. The rest of the film is a slow build to it. I get that writer-director James Watkins (The Woman in Black) is attempting to keep the audience in suspense, but it feels to me like he’s just spinning his wheels until he’s finally ready to lower the boom with a violent finale. It’s cool when it finally happens, but it takes too long to get there.
The story centers on the Daltons, an American family currently living in London. Right away, you can tell they’re just keeping up appearances. They’re not a happy bunch. Family head Ben (McNairy, Halt and Catch Fire) is presently unemployed, the result of his company backing out of an agreement after he moved his family to the UK. His marriage to Louise (McNairy’s HACF co-star Davis) is on the rocks for reasons made clear later on. Their preteen daughter Agnes (Lefler, Fire Country) has terrible anxiety issues. She’s almost 12 and still carries her favorite stuffed bunny everywhere.
They’re on holiday in Italy when they meet Paddy (McAvoy, Split) and his clan, much younger wife Ciara (Franciosi, The Nightingale) and uncommunicative son Ant (Hough). He explains his boy has trouble speaking due to being born with a tongue abnormality. The families seem to hit it off, but Louise still has reservations when Paddy invites them to their house in the countryside for a weekend stay. She relents when she realizes it might be good for their family to get away for a while. She couldn’t be more wrong.
To say that Paddy and Ciara’s behavior is cause for concern would be a gross understatement. There is definitely something wrong with these people, especially Paddy who tends to be rough on his son, both physically and mentally. They also exhibit inappropriate behavior like feigning oral sex while they’re dining out. More than once, Louise says she wants to leave, but Ben doesn’t want to be rude to their hosts. BIG MISTAKE! It turns out the Daltons haven’t been friended but targeted.
To its credit, Speak No Evil is better than the garbage that’s been polluting multiplexes these past few weeks, but that’s not saying much. A blank screen is an improvement over the likes of The Crow, AfrAId and The Front Room. Speak No Evil is strictly mediocre. It’s not terrible in any way, but it doesn’t distinguish itself in any way either. It’s slow and predictable not to mention frustrating. You sit there wondering why the Daltons don’t just get the hell out of there. Why did they even accept such an invite from people they barely know? Of course, we already know why. Movies like this depend on characters that act like idiots and make every wrong move possible. There wouldn’t be a movie if they had a shred of intelligence. Still, it’s really annoying.
On the upside, McAvoy brings his A-game as the increasingly unhinged Paddy. Here’s a guy who appears decent on the surface, but it’s really a façade concealing the monster lurking underneath. His true nature comes out in fits and starts making it all the more frightening. McAvoy is really carving out a niche for himself in the thriller genre. The rest of the cast, young Lefler in particular, turn in good performances even if Franciosi’s character is somewhat underwritten. Sadly, all are underserved by the lackluster script and direction.
I was hoping Speak No Evil would be a good throwback to the 90s-era dangerous stranger thrillers like The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Unlawful Entry and Single White Female. I enjoyed those films back in the day. They were effective and fun, especially when watched with a Friday night audience. Speak No Evil misses the mark by a significant margin. It doesn’t get good until the final 20 minutes, but this is where the phrase “too little, too late” comes into play. I’m going to make an effort to watch the original. I have a feeling it’s the better film.
