A remake of a 2022 horror movie of the same name, Speak No Evil follows the Dalton family on vacation in Italy. While there they cross paths with another family consisting of Paddy, Ciara, and their son with whom they quickly become friends. The Dalton’s soon find themselves invited over to the quirky family’s house where their dream vacation declines into a nightmare.
Before getting in to how the movie is, I want to take a minute to address the marketing. If you have seen the trailers, I hate to say that you’ve seen the movie. It seems more and more that studios feel they have to show huge sections of the movie to get people into the theaters and for the love of God, please stop this.
Despite all that, however, I found this movie to be quite a good watch! Off the bat, the acting across the board is solid. Of course, James McAvoy is the standout here. He is creepy, and uncomfortable but you can’t take your eyes off the screen while he is on it. I honestly think this is his best performance since Split.
Another performance that stood out a lot to me was Scoot McNairy. For entirely different reasons than McAvoy, McNairy’s character of Ben was a difficult one to pull off. This character repeatedly makes some of the dumbest decisions put on screen. But this was very much the point of his character, and for someone who you want to see survive the movie, striking the balance between routing for him and wanting to scream at him was done very well.
Another thing this movie did well was the constant feeling of being uncomfortable. The conversations that take place between these two families, and some of the situations they find themselves in, were hard to watch just because of how off putting they were. There were countless times throughout the movie that I found myself tightly gripping the theater chair, not because something was scary but because the situation on screen was just agonizing to be seeing.
Speaking of scary! I would say that while the movie was tense, and certainly uncomfortable, I never really found it all that frightening. If there was anything I would complain about for the movie it is that lack of scare factor.
Another thing that really stood out to me throughout this movie was the scenery and setting it took place in! I really loved all the environments and settings, especially the outdoor scenes! They also found ways to make the outdoors feel claustrophobic which i thought was really unique.
Overall, I really liked this movie. Before seeing it, I was skeptical about it being a remake of a movie made just two years ago, but afterwards I think it more than earns its remake, and certainly marks another stellar addition to James McAvoy’s credentials. I hope he makes another appearance in the thriller and horror genres again soon. I’m giving Speak No Evil an 8 out of 10.