First, we must speak of trailers that give too much away, something that dampened the exquisite terror of SPEAK NO EVIL for me. Its trailer deprives those who see it of the joy in discovering the twists and turns the story uses in order to turn the film into something other than what we expect or take for granted. My advice, avoid that trailer, but even if you have seen it, James Watkins’s film is still a tension-fueled experience that will leave you breathless.
Part of that is what we must speak of in second place. That would be James McAvoy, an actor of infinite variety and absolute emotional immediacy. Here he is Paddy, a British doctor on vacation in the rustic part of Italy with wife, Ciara (Aisling Franciosi) and son, Ant (Dan Hough), a downcast boy with a congenital condition that impedes his speech. Paddy is just a little too familiar, a little too boisterous as he attaches himself to Americans Ben (Scoot McNairy) and Louise (Mackenzie Davis), who are fellow tourists staying at the same small hotel. Charming, agreeable, and helpful in fending off the dull Danes (a nod to the Danish original on which this film is based) who talk of nothing but cooking classes, Paddy and his family quickly become inseparable from the Americans who welcome the company, particularly for their clinically anxious daughter, Agnes (Alix West Lefler) who becomes attached to the Brits’ mostly mute son. When the vacation is over, an invitation to visit the doctor’s West County farm is extended, with the Americans not declining but also not accepting. The invitation is then repeated in a postcard to the Americans at their London home. It arrives just as Ben receives some bad news, and Louise, despite her non-specific discomfort with Paddy, insists that a weekend getaway to the country would do them good. Hence packing up for a misguided trip that we in the audience know will not go well.
There is undeniably something off about Paddy and Ciara. She is just a little too cheerful, he is just a shade too controlling, but a second act confession about having survived bad childhoods handily explains it all away. Correcting other people’s children, and a questionable decision about comforting Agnes become less warning bells than the result of not having learned the rules of good parenting from growing up with loving parents. Or even indifferent ones. By the time the nagging doubts that still linger prove that those warning bells should have been heeded, the story has become a suspenseful cat-and-mouse game through a rambling farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. Nowhere as in no one to hear screams for help, and no cell reception to call the police.
McAvoy throughout has a gleam in his bright blue eyes that signal something more than a little off. It also signals the cunning that has a deep understanding of how to use a person’s essential decency against him or her. Watkins uses that to expert advantage, slowly allowing MacAvoy to devolve before our eyes into the person his character always was. Excitedly pushing the best bite of roast goose onto vegetarian Louise as a token of honor, even after she’s told him she doesn’t eat meat, or suddenly grabbing his son in a way that would bring on a slew of child protection professionals if done in a public place. As the weekend continues, more and more lines are crossed, and the cumulative toll of inappropriate behavior mounts to unbearable proportions. Attempts to leave are thwarted by apologies and guilt trips, and sound judgment is anesthetized by the demands of politeness.
The gradual revelations about the cracks in the Americans’ marriage combine with their increasing suspicions about their hosts, adding a new layer of dread. It all builds to an explosive climax in which survival goes from maintaining a facade of calm to weaponizing ordinary household items and watching a vegetarian fight against her essential nature in a scene that discomfits on many levels. The final blows delivered manage to shock with their sheer violence with the perpetrator’s face becoming an object of pity and revulsion.
SPEAK NO EVIL tells a cautionary tale of generational family trauma. Using the children of the piece to further several key plot points, with Hough delivering an assured performance of nuance and power, amplifies the subtext and makes the viewer squirm all the more. This is a film that could have traded merely on Watkin’s skill in creating growing panic, but he has made it about horror on more than one level, elevating it into a minor classic. And a perfect showcase for Mr. MacAvoy and Master Hough.
Your Thoughts?