I was dubious about a Speak No Evil remake but having seen it, I now want a whole bunch more
Sep. 15, 2024Opinion: James Watkins’s fresh take on Christian Tafdrup’s Danish chiller is an entirely different beast to its predecessor, and I’m keen to see where else the premise can stretch
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As a big fan of Christian Tafdrup’s jaw-dropping horror Speak No Evil, I’ll admit to being a little skeptical when it was first announced that Blumhouse and Universal were teaming up for a English-language remake. For starters, the original is largely in English anyway, thanks to the central two couples being Danish and Dutch, and secondly, it’s not like they were setting out to bring it to a younger audience, given that the first film was only released two years prior.
While I wasn’t vehemently against the idea like many on Twitter were, I simply couldn’t understand the “why?” of it all. Those doubts started to ease slightly when the first few trailers emerged – and they evaporated completely once I’d seen what Eden Lake helmer James Watkins had cooked up…
The new movie, which we gave a whopping four stars to in ourSpeak No Evil review, is more fast-paced, fun thriller than nerve-shredding bone-chiller, all while basing itself around the same concept: how far would you go to be polite? And it’s made me want several more “reboots”.
Chances are that if you’re reading this, you’ve seen the new movie at least, but if you haven’t (and you’re not put off by the fact that this article contains major spoilers), Speak No Evil follows Ben (Scoot McNairy) and Louise (Mackenzie Davis), an American couple, whose relationship has grown strained since they uprooted their family to London. While vacationing in Italy, the Daltons strike up a fast friendship with charismatic Englishman Paddy Feld (James McAvoy), his wife Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), and their mute son Ant (Dan Hough). Paddy is larger-than-life and adventurous, which immediately hooks quiet, unassuming Ben – though Louise is a little less fond of their new pal.
A few weeks later, when the pair receive an invitation to come visit from the Felds back home, Louise pushes back but ultimately agrees when Ben argues that it’ll be good for them and their daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler) to get away from the city. What starts out as a peaceful weekend in the country soon turns into a waking nightmare, though, when Paddy and Ciara’s sinister intentions with the Daltons come to light.
Ben and Louise don’t lay down and take it towards the end of the new movie, stripped of their agency like Bjørn (Morten Burian) and Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch) do in Tafdrup’s flick; they fight back… and live to tell the tale. How might another couple deal with it all? Each answer – albeit influenced by culture, location, or innate personality – will naturally determine the tone of the film you end up with, and with that, I’d be keen to find out.
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“There’ll be people that see the original movie and go, ‘Why hasn’t he remade that movie? Why hasn’t he made this incredibly punchy, unrelenting ending?’ I would argue, with my characters and their journey, I’m following through [on] their journey in terms of agency and how they would react,”Watkins previously told SFX magazine. “What I’ve taken from Christian’s film is the satire, the exploration of the social rules, and how we react.”
Presumably in a nod to its predecessor, there’s actually a Danish family staying at the same Tuscan hotel as the Daltons and the Felds in Watkins’s movie. But due to them being so stiff and boring, the Brits and the Yanks try to avoid them as best they can. It had me thinking that, if things had been slightly different,thatcouple could’ve been the ones that Paddy and Ciara wound up targeting.
It’s revealed towards the end of the new movie, as it is in the original with Bjørn and his partner, that Ben and Louise are far from the first couple Paddy and Ciara have unleashed their evil upon. Despite not being able to talk, Ant reveals to Agnes that his “parents” cut out his tongue after meeting his real family on a previous holiday and stole his dad’s expensive watch, before, well, killing him and Ant’s mom – and they’re planning to do the same with the Daltons. The cyclical nature of their elaborate, murderous scheme can’t help but make you wonder about the many, many unseen victims that have come before. When did they leave?Didthey leave? Did they manage to escape?! Much like how the Scream series reinvents itself by having a new Ghostface every time, Speak No Evil has that same freshness baked into its plot, too; only with its protagonists, not villains. See you again in another two years?
Speak No Evil is in theaters now. For more, check out our list of thebest horror moviesever, or our guide to the most excitingupcoming horror moviesheading our way.
I am an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things TV and film across our Total Film and SFX sections. Elsewhere, my words have been published by the likes of Digital Spy, SciFiNow, PinkNews, FANDOM, Radio Times, and Total Film magazine.
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