Movie Review: Speak No Evil (2024)
James McAvoy is back at it again giving us a Masterclass lesson in acting.
There are two morals to this film.
Don’t trust strangers.
Don’t play with your food.
Directed by James Watkins, this film is about an American family that has recently relocated to England. With both mother and father unemployed they decide that it’s the best time to go on vacation. While on vacation, they meet another family and immediately hit it off. After they return from vacation, their real-world problems are there to meet them. So, instead of facing their issues they decide to run away from them again by accepting an invitation to visit the family they met on vacation.
At first, things are okay. The family they are visiting has a modest house and farm and live basically isolated from the rest of society. After a few days things have gotten weirder, and the visiting family begins to think that they are in a potentially dangerous situation. Once the family tries to leave, then the veneer of the host family breaks. Once that happens, the visiting family has to defend themselves.
The American family consists of mother (played by Mackenzie Davis), father (played by Scoot McNairy), and daughter (played by Alix West Lefler). The host family is played by father (played by James McAvoy), mother (played by Aisling Franciosi), and son (played by Dan Hough). There are some other minor roles but these six are the core characters of the story.
Overall, I enjoyed this film. The highlight of it was James McAvoy. His acting is always phenomenal, and Speak No Evil doesn’t disappoint. The mood of McAvoy’s character flawlessly switches from calm to anger to flat out murderous rage. It’s fun to watch these transitions. McAvoy had great chemistry with his onscreen wife Ciara, played by Franciosi.
Speaking of the other cast members, the acting of the five main characters was great too. The child actors Hough and Lefler held their own with the adults and in some moments were better than their older cast mates. I especially liked Hough’s performance of the son Ant.
Just like there are two families in this film, there are two mysteries to unravel concerning the families. The American family’s mystery revolves around the reasoning for their sudden shift from America to England. The mystery surrounding the host family is whether or not they are who they say they are. Both mysteries eventually unravel and are solved by the time the credits roll. However, there is another question that is left unanswered by the end of the film, but that’s not a bad thing. It will give people something to theorize about.
Let’s talk about the story itself. This isn’t the first time this story has graced theaters. In 2022, Christian Tafdrup directed a psychological horror thriller film that he co-wrote with his brother with the same name and the same premise. In the original, it’s a Danish couple that are invited by a Dutch couple to their country house for a weekend holiday. I haven’t seen that film, but I’m planning on watching it next month.
Overall, I thought the story was pretty clean in terms of plot. There wasn’t much extra fluff to the script. The film ran about 110 minutes, but it seemed like it was shorter than that while I was watching it. The film didn’t seem to drag excessively which was something that I disliked about the film Hereditary (2018).
Overall, I thought the film was a pretty solid film. The action was great and had moments that provoked the right amount of tension. The gore and violence were realistic enough that i had a moment when I cringed which rarely happens anymore. I think anyone that enjoys a good thriller will enjoy this film.
All that being said, Speak No Evil is rated R for some strong violence, language, and some sexual content and brief drug use.
Have you seen Speak No Evil? If so, what did you think? Let me know in the comments!