During the 1980s and 1990s, it was not uncommon to see one or more characters fall in love with someone only for that person to turn out to be a psychopath. These films came to be known as The Hand that Rocks the Cradle and Single White Female to name a few. These films became the go to for those looking for single-condemned entertainment filled with drama and suspense on an ordinary Friday night. From time to time, one can still come across such films and one such film is Speak No Evil which also happens to be a “better-made” version than most Hollywood films released a couple of decades ago.
Speak No Evil is a reimagining of a Danish film that dates back as far as the year 2022. Even though it is not the most underrated film, as it is easily available through Shudder, it is probably going to be fresh content for the average viewer who does not prefer reading subtitles. The main theme has rather been effortlessly translated from the Netherlands to rural England (the West Country) while the nationalities of the protagonists are no longer Danish/Dutch, but American/British instead. Yet, there are two major changes between the original and the clubhouse-produced revision: all sexual scenes including nudity have been scrapped, although the film is still R-rated, and the last part, which would have been the biggest box office bomb had it been carried forward from the previous movie, has surprisingly also been altered completely. (I won’t argue that either is an improvement although I suppose they are different films as I’d hate to be called a xenophobe.)
The plot begins in Italy where two families who are on holiday make an acquaintance. The Daltons, Ben the father, Scoot McNairy as the mother, Mackenzie Davis, and their daughter Alix West Lefler, Agnes. Globetrotters who are British include Paddy, James McAvoy Ciara along with their mute son Ant who is played by Dan Hough.
Paddy and Ciara call Ben, Louise, and Agnes over to their farmhouse for a week’s stay – the Americans agree as they think the countryside would serve as a balm for their marriage and spirits. However, it soon becomes apparent that ditched “fusion” is how Paddy and his family prefer to live. Quite rapidly, Louise experiences doubt about accepting the invite and is either alive with one of her suspicions being that the bedding looks unwashed and Paddy has no intention of satisfying her who wants a vegetarian dinner. After two days on the farm, Louise gets sick of it and wants everyone to pack up, but the difficulties in escaping the convoluted roads appear more crucial than being on a farm with rabbits.
Director James Watkins, who is mainly known for The Woman in Black, can do a lot with very little. He employs his new mechanics of progression in the second half of the film where the audience is almost jolted into a realization of where they were up until that point petite in contrast to the “vacation” most had imagined. When it is time for him to deviate from the original history, Watkins does it with panache. But the last half an hour goes from a slow horror build-up to a fast-paced action movie and everything is delivered well. In the end, we’re in “refrigerator movie” territory (a film that can sustain itself in this particular space but is not all that great) but it is entertaining to watch the plot, as it develops in the cinema. There is an ugly surprise that generates an expected reaction.
One is left to speculate whether Watkins chose James McAvoy after he saw him in Splits directed by M. Night Shyamalan. McAvoy is delightful as he moves from what appears to be the congenial and warm Paddy into something menacing. This process is subtle – the glimpses of a more ‘me’ centered (possibly darker) persona do not all come at once. Indeed at a stage, even Ben looks like he is beginning to be drawn to Paddy as Louise seems to antagonise him. McAvoy’s part emphatically captures the eye of the camera to the extent that the rest of the cast has to fight to be seen. Mackenzie Davis attempts in vain to be a match for Paddy, while Scoot McNairy, whose manhood has been rather neutered, sounds whiny and somewhat irritating.
Yes, it is fair to ask why. Most of such questions are left unaddressed because the movie does not give enough backstory for the audience to answer them, but it compensates for most of them by amplifying the sense of dread. One might argue, for example, that the trailers of the movie expose too much in terms of material, uh, and yes, they are more telling than many, but, having watched them, I do not believe they affected my engagement during the proceedings. Even placed as return agents, I mean in the case of the final sequence in the movie, seeing them aspect the return, gives the sense that somehow something is ’wrong’, many are being’ concealed’ which turns out to be a major pivot of the film. This new edition of Speak No Evil, even though it is likely not to strike as deep a chord and be that long-lasting as the original, yes, I guess it can also equally be added to the inferno that is the repeatedly strike Blumhouse collection of cost-efficient films that come as a recommendation for genre lovers.
To Watch More Movies Like Speak No Evil (2024) Visit Soap2day.
