Gripping psychological thriller about an American family who accepts an invitation to the farm of an Irish family they just met on holiday in Tuscany.
FAST FACTS:
• Solid horror thriller from Blumhouse; directed by “Eden Lake” director James Watkins
• Prime role for James McAvoy as the master of the house with an inscrutable agenda
• Remake of the Danish film of the same name by Christian Tafdrup from 2022
• Opening film of this year’s Fantasy Filmfest
CREDITS:
Country / Year: USA 2024; Running time: 110 minutes: Director & Screenplay: James Watkins; Cast: James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davs, Scott McNairy, Aisling Franciosi, Alix West Lefler; Distributor: Universal; Release date: September 19, 2024
REVIEW:
That the Brit James Watkins Eight years after his last directorial work for the cinema (in between there were two highly acclaimed series, “McMafia” and “The Ipcress File”), he returns to the big screen with a psychological thriller that can be described as a horror film in the broadest sense. One may feel it is logical or not. What is striking is the quantum leap he has made as a director since his early successes “Eden Lake” (with the then undiscovered Michael Fassbender and Kelly Reilly in the leading roles) and “The Woman in Black”: The remake of the Danish shocker of the same name by Christian Tafdrup of 2022, which had its German premiere at the Munich Film Festival, the “Disappeared Without a Trace” of his generation, shows Watkins in full possession of his skills as a shrewd genre director. How he takes up Tafdrup’s ultimate downer trip of modern cinema, undertakes the premise more or less unchanged, but then changes the plot of his “Speak No EvilThe fact that he lets “The Adventures of Tomorrow” go in a completely different direction than the original as the film progresses, just because he made a few small adjustments at the beginning, is a testament to the skill and intelligence with which he more than deserves to work with the leading genre outfit Blumhouse Productions.
James McAvoy in „Speak No Evil“ von James Watkins (Credit: Universal)
What was originally a nihilistic confrontation with the certainty of death develops here into a modern version of Peckinpah’s “The Violence of the Wild”, a consistent survival thriller in which the supposed victims have to turn the tables in order to escape from a situation that actually seems hopeless. For a long time it seems uncertain whether the threat is not simply in the mind of the Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy American couple, played by the American author, who, on holiday in Tuscany, meet a man James McAvoy and Aisling Franciosi She befriends a couple from Ireland and accepts their invitation to visit them on their farm in the middle of the countryside – the original is about a Danish couple visiting new Dutch friends, separated by a language barrier. Here they speak the same language, but do they always mean the same thing?
Whichever way the plot develops, it quickly becomes clear that host Paddy sees the stay of the American Dalton family as a test of strength, a kind of test of how long he can torment the capable Louise and the weak Ben with his boastful masculinity and virility, how far he can go with his micro-aggressions and his taunts and mockery: Is the cup full when Paddy lets his daughter sleep on the floor in his mute son’s room? Or does the cup overflow when he lets Louise try the best piece of a roast, even though she has repeatedly stated that she is a vegetarian? Or when he makes his son repeat a dance figure over and over again that he had practiced with the Dalton’s daughter – if you haven’t had enough of “Cotton Eye Joe” by now, you will definitely have after “Speak No Evil”? Paddy uses every opportunity to talk about the state of the world and why a little toughness and discipline never hurt anyone. And if he actually goes too far, his “just kidding” is always a valid excuse.
Alix West Lefler, Scoot McNairy and Mackenzie Davis in “Speak No Evil” by James Watkins (Credit: Universal)
When the Daltons finally realize the full extent of the horror thanks to their daughter, it is actually already too late: In an extended showdown, it will now be a matter of life and death, a cleverly choreographed game of cat and mouse in which who has the upper hand will change several times. And anyone who knows the original knows that it is not a foregone conclusion that the sympathetic characters will be the winners. James McAvoy uses the scenario to give the monkey some sugar with a performance that, in its most monstrous moments, channels Jack Nicholson in “The Shining”: Where’s Paddy? Always the center of attention. It’s not an easy task to counter this acting, but Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy do a very good job as a married couple at the end of their patience in a situation that they cannot control. Last but not least, Aisling Franciosi from “The Nightingale” is a safe bet, especially since it leaves open for a long time what role Paddy’s wife Ciara plays in the situation. Anyone who wants to be shaken up by a film should sit in the front row at “Speak No Evil”. And then you can check whether you are strong enough for the Danish original.
Thomas Schultze
