Aisling Franciosi, Alix West Lefler, Dan Hough, England, horror, James McAvoy, James Watkins, Mackenzie Davis, Motaz Malhees, movies, reviews, Scoot McNairy, Speak No Evil
September 14, 2024
by Carla Hay
Directed by James Watkins
Culture Representation: Taking place in England (and briefly in Italy), the horror film “Speak No Evil” (a remake of the 2022 Danish film of the same name) features an almost all-white group of people (with one person of Middle Eastern heritage) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: While on vacation in Italy, an American family meets a British family, and later experience terror as guests in the British family’s home.
Culture Audience: “Speak No Evil” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of 2022’s “Speak No Evil” and “slow burn” psychological thrillers with action-packed endings.
The 2024 version of “Speak No Evil” (based on the 2022 Danish horror film of the same name) is a rare Hollywood remake that’s better than the original film. A major plot hole still remains, but this remake has more suspense and a more satisfying ending. The characters in this remake are also better-developed, with many more questions answered that the original “Speak No Evil” film left unanswered.
Written and directed by James Watkins, “Speak No Evil” starts off looking like it will be almost a carbon copy of the Danish version of the movie. The opening scene, just like the Danish version of “Speak No Evil,” shows a family of three driving to their remote rural farmhouse, but the home is in England, not in Holland. The family consists of Patrick “Paddy” Feld (played by James McAvoy), Ciara Feld (played by Aisling Franciosi) and an 11-year-old son named Ant (played by Dan Hough), who is mute and very introverted. Paddy and Ciara tell people that Ant is mute because Ant has congenital ankyloglossia, which is the medical term for being born with a very short or stunted tongue.
While on vacation at the same resort in Italy, this family of three eventually meet and invite another family of three to their home, where the terror ensues. The invited family in the 2024 version of “Speak No Evil” is an American clan living in London. In the 2022 version of “Speak No Evil,” the family doing the inviting is Dutch, while the invited family is Danish. The 2024 version of “Speak No Evil” does a great job of adding extra layers of insecurities to the American couple—they’re having marital problems, they’re experiencing financial uncertainty, and they don’t have a close support group of friends and family in London—all of which make it more believable that the American couple would be more vulnerable to being lured into a trap set by killers disguised as a friendly couple.
The family of three Americans are Ben Dalton (played by Scoot McNairy); his wife Louise Dalton (played by Mackenzie Davis); and their 11-year-old daughter Agnes Dalton (played by Alix West Lefler), who is unusually attached to her stuffed bunny rabbit toy named Hoppy, which she wants to take everywhere she goes. Agnes in the 2022 version of “Speak No Evil” also had the same fixation on her stuffed bunny toy (which was named Ninus), but the parents didn’t try to ease her out of this attachment, which borders on a little unhealthy on a psychological/emotional maturity level. In the 2024 version, Agnes’ psychological arrested development is addressed head-on because Ben tells Agnes that by Agnes’ 12th birthday, Hoppy will have to be in another room when Agnes sleeps.
In both “See No Evil” movies, the couples meet at the vacation resort’s swimming pool when the victim spouses are sunning themselves next to an unoccupied lounge chair and the deceptive “alpha male” of the evil couple (in this case, Paddy) asks if he can use the chair. Ben and Louise politely says yes. A vacation acquaintance then ensues between the two families, who spend the rest of their time in Italy hanging out with each other.
During a couple’s meal together at the resort, Paddy says he’s a retired medical doctor. Ciara is a homemaker. She says that they live in a rural farmhouse in England, and Paddy is much happier since he gave up his medical practice. Paddy and Ciara tell Ben and Louise that they’re welcome to visit and stay anytime at Paddy and Ciara’s place.
Ben opens up about his current career problems. Ben, Louise and Agnes had moved to London because the Chicago-based company he worked for wanted Ben to open a London office there. However, the company cancelled those plans. Ben was laid off with a severance package, but he’s having a difficult time finding another job in London.
Louise worked in public relations when she lived in the United States, but she’s also been unable to find a job in London. Ben and Louise like London, which is why they’ve decided to continue living there. In the 2022 version of “Speak No Evil,” the only mention of jobs and careers is evil husband saying that he’s a retired medical doctor.
During the two families’ time in Italy, Agnes loses Hoppy somewhere outside the resort. Ben looks for the toy, but Paddy is the one who finds Hoppy. It’s a change from the 2022 version of “Speak No Evil,” where the father of Agnes was the one who found the rabbit toy.
By having Paddy find the toy, it brings a more believable scenario in which Paddy is able to establish trust with the Dalton family. Paddy becomes a “hero” to Agnes, who readily agrees to Paddy’s offer to give her a quick ride on his motor scooter. Later on in the movie, when Hoppy goes missing multiple times, Agnes’ attachment to Hoppy (and Paddy manipulating that attachment) will confirm the obvious: Paddy is probably responsible for taking Hoppy every time this bunny toy goes missing.
The Dalton family returns to London a few months after their trip to Italy. Ben and Louise get a postcard from Paddy and Ciara. The front of the postcard is a photo of the Feld and Dalton families together during their vacation in Italy. The postcard is an invitation for Ben, Louise and Agnes to visit and stay at the farmhouse where Paddy, Ciara and Ant live. Louise is a little hesitant but Ben convinces her it’ll be a good idea to get away again for a while and explore these new friendships.
The trip to the Feld family home starts out in an amiable manner. But then, Paddy and Ciara begin to test the boundaries of Ben and Louise. Just like in both “Speak No Evil” movies, Louise is pressured into eating red meat, even though she says she’s a vegetarian. Louise is actually a pescatarian because she says she eats fish. Paddy insults her for being hypocritical for calling herself a vegetarian when she actually eats fish.
There are other boundaries crossed and inappropriateness, usually initiated by Paddy, that have to do with child rearing and public displays of affection between adults. Both movies have a scene where the predator couple invites the victim couple to a family dinner outing at a restaurant but announce on short notice that the kids aren’t going on this outing. Instead, the kids will be looked after by a disheveled man named Muhjid (played by Motaz Malhees), who is described by Paddy and Ciara as a trusted babysitter in the neighborhood.
Louise (who is more likely than Ben to notice things that are off-kilter) is very wary about letting this stranger babysit Agnes. However, Ben acts as if she’s being uptight, so Louise reluctantly agrees to let Agnes and Ant be alone with Muhjid. At the restaurant, Paddy and Ciara ramp up the discomfort level by engaging in a sex act at the table during the meal. In the 2022 version of “Speak No Evil” the predator couple didn’t go that far and were just overly touchy-feely while dancing in front of the victim couple at the restaurant. In both movies, by the end of dinner, the predator husband expects the victim husband to pay the bill.
Both movies also have a scene where the husbands do some outdoor primal screaming as a way to bond with each other when they’re alone together. Both movies have the predator mother being overbearing in telling Agnes what to do, while the victim mother verbally gets annoyed by this overstepping of parental bounds. Both movies have a scene where the kids do a dance for their parents, and the predator father gets physically abusive with the son, much to the horror of the victim parents. But the biggest thing that both “Speak No Evil” movies have in common is in showing how not speaking up or not doing anything about things that are clearly wrong can have deadly consequences.
In other ways, there are gender dynamics that affect what happen, since Louise is constantly made to feel like she’s being “paranoid” or “unreasonable” if she speaks up about something that is inappropriate, which is why women are more likely than men to be insulted as “crazy” or “hysterical.” Meanwhile, Louise thinks Ben is too trusting and too passive, but he thinks he’s being open-minded and laid-back cool. Louise tells Ben more than once that she wants to leave, but he usually talks her out of it. Paddy and Ciara also put Ben and Louise on a guilt trip over wanting to leave. Ciara and Paddy convince Louise and Ben to stay by making a “confession” that probably isn’t true.
Because the trailers for the 2024 version of “Speak No Evil” already reveal that Paddy is the chief menace of the Feld family, the only real suspense is in finding out who will live and who will die at the end of the movie. McAvoy’s performance at times veers into campiness, but it remains effectively creepy throughout the film. Davis gives a very compelling performance as the heroic counterpoint to Paddy. In the relationship between Ben and Louise, this wife is more outspoken and proactive than the husband, just like Paddy is more outspoken and more proactive than Ciara.
The Feld family secrets are revealed in a way that is much more realistic than how the Danish version of the movie reveals the secrets of the villainous couple. The biggest plot hole (which is the same in both “Speak No Evil” movies) has to do with how long this evil couple was able to keep these secrets without other people getting suspicious and investigating. A few of the action scenes at the end of the 2024 version of “Speak No Evil” are somewhat formulaic. However, the ending of the 2024 version is a vast improvement from the 2022 version and should please viewers who have the patience to watch the buildup to this tension-filled finale.
Universal Pictures released “Speak No Evil” in U.S. cinemas on September 13, 2024. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on October 1, 2024.