Making new friends on holiday is all part of the fun, but how many of us have actually met up again with them afterwards – IRL, if you like? Grim Danish horror, Speak No Evil, would have made anybody think twice. For those who didn’t see it, the same idea returns this week with the same title – but there the similarity more or less ends, for now we have the Blumhouse version.
Director James Watkins brings together Brits Paddy and Ciara (James McAvoy, Aisling Franciosi) and Americans Ben and Louise (Scoot McNairy, Mackenzie Davis) in the idyllic Tuscan countryside and, despite some misgivings about Paddy’s extrovert nature, Ben and Louise agree to a weekend at their old farmhouse in the West Country. Once there, his behaviour goes up a notch or two, from tasteless pranks to something more sinister: there’s clearly also issues between him and Ciara and he has little patience with his young son, Ant (Dan Hough), who has a serious speech impediment. But it’s when Ben and Louise feel they’re in danger and want to leave that things become deadly serious.
Gone is the grim terror of the original, to be replaced by what is essentially a crowd pleasing horror, one that entertains and makes your spine tingle pleasantly, but is unlikely to turn your knuckles white. In fact, the difference in tone is so marked that this isn’t a re-make in the real sense of the word, but a separate animal, inspired by the original and nothing more. The fact that Paddy’s behaviour in the first half of the film was greeted with giggles – admittedly sometimes awkward ones – from fellow critics says it all. And the regular plot signposts, as well as the occasional holes, simply underlined them.
That’s not to say it’s a bad film. The cast is very well chosen, although this is very much McAvoy’s film. Considerably beefed up for the role, he’s clearly enjoying himself and has a great knack for playing evil, with those pointy eyebrows giving him a decidedly demonic look. There’s one moment when he goes full-on Hulk – he doesn’t turn green – and, as the situation in the farmhouse goes from bad to worse, you half expect a leering yell of “Heeeere’s Johnny!” Watkins, who also wrote the script, is very much on his side by surrounding him with unease in the film’s holiday sequences. OK, so he plays his music too loudly, he’s tactless and a bit dominant but, by themselves, they can be explained away or excused. Put together, however, they add up to one very large red flag and the later stages allow McAvoy to really get his teeth into frightening his new friends.
The lean ensemble cast all give his star turn strong support. Much has been made in the run-up to the film’s release of its portrayal of toxic masculinity and, while it’s definitely on show, it’s balanced out by the gentler Ben, a man with hidden strengths that he keeps under wraps for most of the action, and it’s an aspect of the film that feels under-cooked. Come for the horror, but stick around for McAvoy. And a word of warning. You’ll never listen to The Rednex’ Cotton Eyed Joe in the same way again.
★★★
In UK cinemas from 12 September / James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, Aisling Franciosi, Dan Hough, Alix West Lefler / Dir: James Watkins / Universal Pictures / 15
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