SPEAK NO EVIL (2024)

Studio:   Blumhouse/Universal
Director: James Watkins
Writer:   James Watkins
Producer: Jason Blum, Paul Ritchie
Stars:    James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Aisling Franciosi, Alix West Lefler, Dan Hough, Kris Hitchen, Scoot McNairy

Review Score:

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Summary:

After meeting on vacation, a husband and wife accept another couple’s invitation for a weekend visit that escalates into a disturbing experience.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

While vacationing in Italy with their 11-year-old daughter Agnes, reserved American couple Ben and Louise Dalton befriend outgoing British couple Paddy and Ciara Feld, whose supposed son Ant is mute. Upon returning home to London, Ben and Louise receive a postcard inviting them to visit Paddy and Ciara's remote farm in Devon, England. With their marriage troubled and their daughter suffering from anxiety, Ben and Louise decide the unexpected trip might be good for their family, even though they don't know the other couple well.

At Paddy and Ciara's home, Ant tries saying something to Ben. Ben notices Ant's tongue is missing, which Paddy claims is due to a rare medical condition.

As the two families spend time together, Ben and Louise become increasingly uncomfortable with strange behavior such as Paddy being unusually aggressive with Ant, Paddy forcing Louise to eat meat even though she is vegetarian, and having to sleep in a guest bed with dirty sheets. Meanwhile, a friendship grows between Agnes and Ant.

Paddy and Ciara invite Ben and Louise to a dinner hosted by their chef friend Mike. Louise is surprised to discover the kids will be left with Paddy's strange friend Muhjid despite Paddy never asking Louise if that would be okay.

Dinner at Mike's turns uneasy when Paddy becomes combative with Louise about her vegetarianism, and when Paddy and Ciara jokingly simulate oral sex at the table. Paddy leaves Ben to pay the expensive dinner bill, which Ben reluctantly does.

While their parents are gone, Ant shows Agnes a watch collection that includes one engraved in another language, although Agnes does not understand why. Ant also shows Agnes scars and bruises all over his body.

Back at the house, Ben and Louise privately argue about their troubled marriage. Paddy secretly eavesdrops at their door.

Later that night, Louise is shocked to find Agnes and Ant sleeping in the same bed as Paddy and Ciara, who are in their underwear. Louise insists on leaving immediately. As the Daltons drive away, however, Agnes has a panic attack when she realizes she left her security stuffed animal Hoppy behind, which forces the family to return to the farm.

Ben and Louise have an awkward confrontation with Paddy and Ciara over why they tried to leave without saying goodbye. Ciara tells a sob story that coerces Ben and Louise into ignoring their concerns and agreeing to continue their stay.

Ant writes a note for Agnes, but she is unable to read it because it is in another language. Ant quickly eats the note to prevent Paddy from seeing it. Agnes warns her mother that something isn't right with Ant.

Paddy takes Ben fox hunting, but Ben is unable to pull the rifle's trigger. After Paddy confesses he overheard Ben and Louise's argument, Ben confides in Paddy about how his wife had been texting another man, which exacerbated their rocky relationship. Paddy takes Ben to a hill where he has Ben scream to vent his frustration in another bonding moment.

During dinner, Ciara repeatedly corrects Agnes's table etiquette with disciplinary instructions, which offends Louise. Paddy then becomes angrily aggressive with Ant when the boy poorly performs a dance routine he rehearsed with Agnes.

Louise insists on leaving again, but Ben says he needs to sober up from drinking at dinner before driving. Louise chides Ben for being assertive with her, but not with Paddy.

While Paddy naps due to drunkenness, Ant steals keys from his waist. Ant uses the keys to unlock a barn where he escorts Agnes into a hidden room beneath the floorboards. There, Ant shows Agnes a collection of luggage and personal items belonging to other families that stayed at the farm. From a photo album, Agnes learns Paddy and Ciara have a long history of luring couples to their home, killing them, taking the children as their own, and cutting out the kids' tongues to keep them quiet. After showing a photo of his real parents, Ant shows Agnes a picture of everyone together in Italy, indicating the Daltons are Paddy and Ciara's next targets. Agnes uses her cellphone to take pictures of the photo album to show Ben and Louise.

Agnes feigns getting her period so she can get her parents alone and warn them about what's happening. Meanwhile, Paddy sees the barn disturbed and realizes the Daltons discovered his secret.

Despite their mounting fear, the Daltons attempt to act normal as they announce their intention to leave. Ben sees his car has a flat tire, which Paddy offers to fix. Ben becomes uncomfortable as Paddy eyes him suspiciously while collecting potentially dangerous tools from a shed.

Although Paddy fixes the tire, Agnes sees her stuffed rabbit is stuck on the house's roof. Paddy forces Ben to retrieve it while he briefly shakes Ben's ladder during an alarming moment.

Following another tense standoff with Paddy, the Daltons begin driving away. Ben immediately stops his car when Paddy throws Ant into a pond. While Ben rescues the boy from drowning, Paddy closes his electronic gate, preventing everyone from leaving.

Paddy and Ciara capture Ben, Louise, Agnes, and Ant. Holding everyone at gunpoint, Paddy forces Louise to make bank transfers and other arrangements to cover up their disappearance. When Ben asks, "Why are you doing this," Paddy condescendingly responds, "Because you let us."

Using a boxcutter she pocketed earlier, Louise suddenly slashes Paddy's face. In the ensuing commotion, Louise wrestles a shotgun away from Ciara while Ben frees the two children.

After locking Paddy and Ciara in their shed, Ben and Louise try to leave with Agnes and Ant. Previously summoned by Paddy, Mike arrives to prevent their escape by firing a shotgun at the car's windshield. Ben, Louise, Agnes, and Ant retreat to the house. Mike frees Paddy and Ciara.

Several violent fights and cat-and-mouse confrontations occur as the two sides try to outwit and overpower each other. Louise rescues Ben from Mike by smashing the claw end of a hammer into Mike's head. Ciara falls to her death after Louise knocks her off the roof. Paddy becomes badly injured from various attacks.

Ben uses a ladder to get Louise, Ant, and Agnes safely back to the ground outside from an upstairs window. Paddy stops everyone from leaving by taking Agnes at gunpoint. With Ciara dead, Paddy implies Agnes will take her place. Agnes suddenly jabs Paddy with a syringe of ketamine she previously pocketed, which causes Paddy to collapse on the ground.

Ben considers shooting Paddy, but instead decides to get everyone back to the car. However, Ant picks up a concrete block and unexpectedly uses it to repeatedly beat Paddy to death while screaming. Ben and Louise subsequently drive away with the kids. Agnes hands her keepsake stuffed animal to Ant, who clutches it while tears stream down his face.

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Review:

Viewers of Blumhouse's 2024 remake of "Speak No Evil" can be divided into two groups: those who saw the original Danish thriller from 2022, and those who didn't or don't care to. The American version presents a decidedly different experience for each side, with those taking their first trip likely to get much more out of the movie's slow-burn suspense than those who've already been through this same story when it was told with sharper teeth.

Like the film it's based on, this "Speak No Evil" takes its time getting going. While vacationing in Italy with their 11-year-old daughter Agnes, reserved American couple Ben and Louise form an unlikely friendship with bohemian British couple Paddy and Ciara, who have a mute son named Ant. Being a nebbish by nature, Ben can't help but be fascinated by Paddy and Ciara's carefree, borderline boorish behavior. They're outspoken and outgoing, two traits Louise might not mind seeing more of in her husband to help pull their rocky relationship out of its rut.

Not long after they return home, Ben and Louise receive an unexpected invitation to visit Paddy and Ciara at their remote farm in England. They've only just met, and Ben and Louise barely know the other family, yet an adventurous getaway seems like a reasonable remedy for distracting their daughter from her anxiety while adding a little spice to their normal lives.

Following a few unusual experiences at the farm, Ben and Louise wonder if Paddy and Ciara might be more than merely odd. They're either oblivious to obvious social cues, or possibly provoking Ben and Louise on purpose. Through a veneer of enthusiastic charm, Paddy seemingly challenges the other pair to stand up to him by having them sleep in a guest bed with soiled sheets, coercing Louise into eating meat even though she's vegetarian, and angrily disciplining Ant for innocent infractions. As discomfort escalates into unsettling alarm, Ben and Louise question what Paddy's manipulative motives might really be, and if they'll be able to escape safely should their situation turn dangerous or deadly.

I hate to sound like a "the book was better" snob, but I have a difficult time seeing how this "Speak No Evil" improves upon its source, or how its differences necessitate its existence as a separate take on the same material. It's hardly unusual for Hollywood to remake foreign films, since American audiences often avoid subtitles, except the 2022 film is mostly in English already. It makes sense to swap out unknown actors with recognizable faces headlined by James McAvoy, although a celebrity facelift isn't much of a reason to create a copy of a movie that's only two years old, either.

The 2022 film features a Dutch couple and a Danish couple. That's enough of a regional distinction to introduce context and commentary about how one culture approaches another, not necessarily with bias or bigotry, but with cautious cognizance that different social mores could be in play. Looking for reasons to rationalize another family's unanticipated actions, and wary of misreading a situation, there's more intrigue here regarding why someone would willingly remain uncomfortable for fear of wrongly rocking the boat.

That idea doesn't exist to the same degree in the 2024 film. The gap between an American couple living in London and a British couple living in rural England isn't wide enough for a theme of competing customs to fit. Paddy and Ciara aren't mysterious foreigners living an unfamiliar lifestyle off the grid. They could just as easily be another American couple whose home is in Alabama countryside for all the difference their nationality doesn't make.

Funnily enough, my review of the original "Speak No Evil" mused (review here), "If “Speak No Evil” were an American horror film, the immediate assumption would be that (Paddy and Ciara) have nefarious plans to torture the other couple and/or abduct the little girl." Unsurprisingly, that easy prediction came to fruition.

Up until the last act, writer/director James Watkins treats "Speak No Evil" a lot like a shot-for-shot remake, except that it waters down the more controversial sexual insinuations to be more agreeable with mainstream audiences. Then for its finale, the 2024 movie disappointingly trades 2022's psychologically disturbing sequences and suggestive bleakness for action-oriented events where resourceful heroes and gun-toting villains engage in overlong cat-and-mouse antics.

By turning into a typical thriller, "Speak No Evil" goes from being a gripping, shockingly dark fable about cultural clashes and behavioral conditioning to a dumbed-down theme about a mousy man struggling to stand up for his family. That's a simpler read on "Speak No Evil" than the meatier messages that previously powered its suspense. The 2024 film succeeds at making the viewer feel a significant amount of the unease Ben and Louise endure, but the shift into a hectic game of hide-and-seek betrays a big bite of that cerebral buildup.

I might have scored "Speak No Evil" higher had I not seen the original movie. This refreshed version works well as a James McAvoy acting showcase, which is probably the only draw for viewers already familiar with the plot's path. Once again wishing I wasn't being a "the book was better" nag, I'll still say the 2022 film offers a fuller, more fear-filled and eerily lingering experience than this made-for-the-masses 2024 incarnation ever does.

Review Score: 55

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