Regular people being lured into danger by charismatic psychopaths could almost be its own subgenre of thrillers. In fact, the newest entry with this basic plot outline, Speak No Evil, is actually a remake of the 2022 Danish movie of the same name. I have not seen that one, but this version is a very slow burn, leading up to a violent, action-packed, climax. The performances are good, and it is skillfully directed, yet a distinct lack of subtlety works against it. The warning signs are plentiful though, while the screenplay tries hard to explain why the other characters don’t heed them, it doesn’t exactly build the necessary sense of dread.
There is a convenience to the characters, along with too few moments that are truly discomforting. It is strange behavior, waved away awkwardly with false honesty. There could be something here about social niceties overcoming the urge to flee from bad situations. Mostly, this feels like cheap thrills with little to say about the terror.
Ben and Louise are Americans on vacation in Italy with their daughter, Agnes. They end up being charmed by free-spirited Brits Paddy and Ciara, who are there with their clearly troubled, mute son, Ant. When the Americans are invited to visit Paddy and Ciara for a long weekend at their isolated farmhouse, they accept. Things are immediately off upon their arrival. Will they summon up the will to leave before it’s too late?
The emotional conflict keeping the innocent family from being united is that their marriage is strained by an infidelity. It is implied that Ben feels weak, seeing Paddy as a more masculine ideal. This despite Paddy’s passive-aggressive rudeness toward Louise and sudden anger aimed at his son. Louise is uncomfortable from the start, though even she is a sucker for Ciara’s well-timed sob stories.
When the remarkably thin façade finally breaks, Paddy suggests that the reason Ben and Louise are in this situation is because their need to seem socially accepting was bigger than their fears. For instance, they had to be nice to this couple because their son is handicapped. This isn’t really borne out in the characterizations. Ben seems to stay partially to escape his own struggles and partially to annoy Louise. Louise seems to stay because Ben doesn’t want to leave. The screenplay (by director James Watkins) doesn’t have much to say about the liberal politeness of people like Ben and Louise or the sociopathic nihilism of people like Paddy and Ciara. It simply uses it as a general concept for suspense purposes.
Any suspense drummed up by the story is mostly due to the barely subdued craziness of James McAvoy as Paddy and the confused unease of Mackenzie Davis as Louise. McAvoy is relentless when it comes to showing Paddy’s singlemindedness at keeping this visit going. He will use any emotionally-manipulative tactic he can think of to get them to stay. Anger, guilt, lies, very odd “jokes,” etc.; McAvoy makes it all disturbing. Davis, on the other hand, has to get across a desire to leave, making that fit with the fact that she doesn’t. She does the best she can. Her gradually mounting terror is the most convincing part of this.
Then Speak No Evil (105 minutes, without the end credits) builds up to a final stretch that doesn’t mesh with the slow burn that came before. Things explode into bloodshed in a way that feels dishonest and unsatisfying. What is the point of any of this? It’s not “there’s no point;” that would at least make the meaninglessness horrifying. The point seems to be to torture the audience with quiet menace, before releasing the tension with a cathartic burst of violence. It is never intense enough throughout for that payoff. The cast is game and the direction is effective, but the end result just doesn’t work.
2½ out of 5
Cast:
James McAvoy as Paddy
Mackenzie Davis as Louise
Scoot McNairy as Ben
Aisling Franciosi as Ciara
Alix West Lefler as Agnes
Dan Hough as Ant
Written/Directed by James Watkins
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