Speak No Evil (Theatrical)

A remake of the 2022 Danish-Dutch film of the same name, Speak No Evil attempts to Americanize the original film for domestic audiences. It sticks closely to the original film’s layout until the final act takes the largest detour. Those who have seen the original will most certainly remember (as much as they’d like to forget) the very bleak ending. That is absent here with what is certainly a more familiar resolution. This remake still gets a lot of things right to become more of a crowd pleaser than its predecessor. Whether it missed the point or not is certainly up for debate.

While on a vacation in Italy, we meet American couple, Louise (Mackenzie Davis) and her husband Ben Dalton (Scoot McNairy) as well as their daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler). Paddy (James McAvoy) is quick to offer his hospitality along with his wife Ciara (Aisling Franciosi) and their silent son Ant (Dan Hough). They have dinner together on their trip and get to know each other quite well. With very little time passing, Paddy invites them to come stay at their home for a nice change of scenery. The gratefully accept and things seem ok at least at first. They mention that their son Ant was born with a smaller tongue which would explain why he doesn’t speak. They’re also seeing how Paddy treats Ant when he doesn’t do a dance rendition the way his father would like. We see plenty of that aggression come out of Paddy. The story certainly takes its time to let the tension escalate. Agnes has an attachment to her stuffed animal and has anxiety issues. This comes into play when the couple manage to escape without notice one night, only to return to retrieve the stuffed animal. There are plenty of tense exchanges as Louise must remind the other couple not to correct their daughter. Paddy also teases Louise about being a vegetarian as well. It’s the last half that starts to form an identity of its own and throws some more curveballs at us and pads the running time. We learn just what exactly it is that this couple does and how they hope to achieve it.

All the actors shine here, but it’s McAvoy who’s clearly having a great time. I would suggest to most coming into this film to keep expectations in line and to not compare it to the original if you’ve seen it. It works in its own way. I am all for not being an exact carbon copy as it’s nice to have both versions to choose from. The climax follows a lot of familiar beats, but still carries some tension. Any time I see a character hanging for their life from a high building, I get knots in my stomach. Then there’s the more familiar stuff with nearly blinding someone and kicking and knocking through doors, but I say so what? Sometimes you just must go with such things and not nitpick too much. The remake aims to be more of a crowd pleaser, and I feel it achieves its goal.