“Speak No Evil” Mixes Fright and Fun

Speak No Evil (James Watkins, 2024) 4 out of 5 stars

James McAvoy is at it again. The Scottish actor has stepped into yet another unsettling, uber-creepy role. I myself first discovered McAvoy in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as Mr. Tumnus. I also appreciate his role as the iconic Professor X in the X-Men prequels of the 2010s.

While he began in fan-favorite roles as protagonists, McAvoy’s hidden talent of playing insane, unhinged characters seems to have been lurking underneath. His first major showcase of this came in M. Night Shyamalan’s 2016 Split, where he is featured as a character with multiple personalities, some overly polite, others terrifying. McAvoy’s latest role is quite similar, as he plays the friendly-and-funny-on-the-surface, but sinister-underneath, Paddy in director James Watkins’ Speak No Evil, a remake of a 2022 Danish film of the same name.

In the film, Ben (Scoot McNairy, Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile) and Louise Dalton (Mackenzie Davis, Terminator: Dark Fate) are on a couples retreat with their daughter, Agnes (Alix West Lefler, The King Tide), in Italy. There, they meet another couple: Paddy (McAvoy) and Ciara (Aisling Franciosi, The Last Voyage of the Demeter), who also have a child named Ant (Dan Hough) with them. The two families form a bond, and Ben and Louise especially enjoy their daughter Agnes having someone to play with in Ant.

Near the end of the trip, Paddy offers an invitation to the Daltons to join them at their family home in England someday. Ben and Louise accept, though on a whim, and the families return to their homes. After a few weeks, the Daltons receive a postcard from Paddy and Ciara, reminding them of their invitation to their home. Ben and Louise think this could be good for them and their daughter to get away again, and decide to make the venture out.

When the Daltons arrive at Paddy and Ciara’s home, things seem off from the start. Their house is in the middle of nowhere, with no neighbors. Also, the house and the family, themselves, seem a bit unpleasant. Ben and Louise try to dismiss the initial strangeness, but as incidents begin to pile up, they question their decision to spend the weekend at the house of a couple they barely know.

Speak No Evil successfully mixes humor and horror in a way that few films can pull off. Many horror films attempt to have a comedic aspect to them, but often struggle tonally as a result, or the comedy simply does not land. Watkins manages to feature the perfect balance of the comical and the creepy here. The jokes hit, the awkward interactions between the characters are very amusing and enthralling, and when there is horror to be had, the tension and suspense are top notch.

The film’s plot is successfully executed with a big assist from the cast. In this kind of movie, the main characters need to be compelling, and they most certainly are. McAvoy, no surprise, is the standout among the cast, with an absolutely fantastic performance as Paddy. The others in the cast deliver, as well. The big surprise of the film is the children, though. The writers give them much to do in the film, and they actually outsmart the adults in many ways. Hough and Lefler are up to the task, as they provide exceptional performances here, too.

Speak No Evil mostly succeeds, but does fall victim to predictability (some of that due to the trailers). The marketing campaign for this film has been great, and I’ve been seeing promotional videos everywhere, which I think reveal too much. Still, even to someone who hasn’t seen the trailers, there are several plot points, and events in the film, that the audience can see coming a mile away. There are also some very boneheaded decisions made by some characters in this film, namely the adults. This does help show, by contrast, how smart the kids are, which seems to be the point, but some of the adults’ actions are inexcusable.

Overall, Speak No Evil is a film that I think anyone can enjoy. Although it is at times predictable, and some questionable decisions are made, Speak No Evil successfully blends two genres with an overachieving cast, compelling characters, and a quite intriguing plot. Even at a press screening, the theatre I saw this film at was alive and overflowing with energy, as everyone seemed so into this movie. I think audiences and critics everywhere will see a similar effect.

Matt Patti

Matt Patti has enjoyed voicing his opinions on films from a young age. He has lived in the Baltimore, Maryland, area since 2015 and is a graduate of Stevenson University’s Film & Moving Image program. Matt is currently back at Stevenson University, working as the School of Design, Arts, and Communication's Studio Manager.