Speak No Evil: Movie Review

Cast: James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, Aisling Franciosi
Director: James Watkins

About as insidious and uncomfortable as they come, the 2024 remake of the 2022 Danish psychological horror is a squirm-inducing tale of faltering-on-the-edge couple Ben and Louise (McNairy and Davis) who are trying to piece things together after a threat of infidelity.

On a trip to Italy, they meet McAvoy and Franciosi's Paddy and Ciara - whereas Ben and Louise are more uptight and highly strung, Paddy and Ciara appear to be the polar opposite, free and easy and a bit rougher round the edges.

While Ben's attracted to the other couple's freedoms, Louise is more cautious and uncertain - a feeling furthered when they're invited to stay at Paddy and Ciara's remote Cornish farmhouse for a weekend.

But things begin to go awry, when a series of situations arise pushing Louise and Ben to the edge of what they would consider acceptable.

To say more about Speak No Evil is to rob it of the uncomfortable and lingering edges that play out. From moments that are held just too long by Watkins to a deeply disturbing use of a Bangles classic, there's much in Speak No Evil that just feels wrong - yet so right.

From McAvoy's malevolent charisma to Davis' borderline neurosis, there's much that leaves you questioning what you would do - it's an exploration of those moments, those social mores that will pull in much of the horror from this, even if the unrelenting bleakness of the original's finale has been changed.

Yet this unnerving rollercoaster ride is one worth taking, as it grips you in its proceedings and propels you on a journey you weren't sure you wanted to take.

Sinister in its outlook and more a commentary on couples and their fractures and simmering unhappiness, there's much about Speak No Evil that may give pause for thought.

It may lack some of the misery and subtlety of the original, but this Blumhouse production's more than capable of ousting you to the edge of your seat and leaving you dangling there for longer than is remotely comfortable.

The saying "hell is other people" has never rang so true.