Speak No Evil movie review

MOVIE TITLE: Speak No Evil

This psychological horror by Blumhouse is now playing in theaters.

RATING: R

LENGTH: 1 hour 50 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE: B+

IN A NUTSHELL:

The story is about a family that is invited to spend a whole weekend in a country home of another couple they had recently met while on vacation. The weekend reveals startling lies and an unimaginable dark side.

This is an American remake of the 2022 Danish film. It’s unusual to get an American adaptation of a film so quickly! The movie was directed by James Watkins who also cowrote it with Christian Tafdrup and Mads Tafdrup. Christian and his brother co-wrote the screenplay, while Christian directed it.

James McAvoy said that he did not watch the Danish film before he began filming because he didn’t want it to influence how he performed and presented the story. Twenty-four hours after they finished filming, he watched the original and said he was extremely impressed. Just so you know, the original Danish version is much more violent and brutal.

The director of the unsettling Danish movie revealed that a real-life experience he had inspired the film. He and his wife met a Dutch couple when they were on vacation. Later, that couple invited them to visit them in the Netherlands. He and his wife declined the invitation because they thought it would be awkward. He let his mind wander and explore the worse-case scenario to see how far and horrific this movie could go.

THINGS I LIKED:

I don’t really like horror movies, so the only reason I wanted to watch this was to see the incredibly sinister performance by James McAvoy. I’ve been a huge fan of his and knew he would be amazing in this. The’s absolutely nothing he could have done better in this role. His creepy performance was stellar.
The rest of the cast also did a great job and includes Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, Aisling Franciosi, and the two darling kid actors: Alix West Lefler and Dan Hough.
There are so many times in Acts 1 and 2 where we see red flags and feel extremely uncomfortable. As you become more aware of what’s really happening, you want to yell at the screen to warn the characters not to do what they’re about to do. That’s what a good horror can do: evoke fear and passion in the audience. Mission accomplished in this film.
The movie was filmed in Gloucester, England and also in Croatia for a week.
The title takes on an interesting meaning in several ways.
Because you know the madness is coming, you feel the tension from the very beginning of the film and throughout every scene, wondering when the chaos will begin.
The dialogue does a great job injecting some humor along the way.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

Fans of the original Danish movie might be disappointed that the American film changes some plot points, especially the ending.
Like most horror movies, there are always characters who make dumb decisions that put themselves in even more danger.
Some viewers might complain that the story is slow-moving because they want to get to the crazy action sooner. The horror begins at the last 20 minutes of the movie.
Sometimes, it was hard to understand what everyone was saying.