Overview
When an American family is invited to spend the weekend at the idyllic country estate of a charming British family they befriended on vacation, what begins as a dream holiday soon warps into a snarled psychological nightmare.
A remake of the 2022 Danish film of the same name, Speak No Evil focuses on an American family who meet a British family whilst on holiday in Italy, and this leads to them being invited to stay at their remote farmhouse for a weekend after their return to England. Tensions start to rise as the guests find themselves presented with uncomfortable situations that escalate over time, testing the limits of the guests, and suggesting something dark and sinister about the British couple and their mute son.
This starts off pretty much an almost beat for beat, line for line remake of the Danish film, and initially begs the question as to what the point is when the original was not only so recent, but also is spoken mostly in the English language. However, small changes to the opening act feel like they build the new friendship between the two families better, and the casting of McAvoy in the role of Paddy, the father of the farmhouse owning family, is a masterstroke. In the part he manages to switch from outwardly caring and compassionate, to fun joker, to sinister threat with absolute ease, and right from the first act his subtle changes in presentation of Paddy serve to unsettle and generate a sense of foreboding in the isolated home. As the film plays out, additional alterations to the original film’s tale, offering background to the characters to explore the reasons for their actions, lend well, as does the approach to the third act which keeps a level headed sense of threat right to the end. Never has a scene of someone climbing a ladder sent so many chills down my spine before!
This is the best Blumhouse offering of recent years, and is packed with atmosphere, making it a thrill to watch right to the very final frame.