SPEAK NO EVIL – Review

In the chilling thriller/horror drama SPEAK NO EVIL, James McAvoy delivers another striking performance as character who shifts between charming and aggressive. No one does this like McAvoy, who has played roles from sweet heroes to madmen, a range that means audiences are never sure which McAvoy they will encounter, creating an edgy tension from the start.

In this story, two couple meet on vacation and hit it off. One couple is American, Louise (Mackenzie Davis) and Ben (Scoot McNairy) who have an 11-year-old daughter, Agnes (Alix West Lefler), and live in London. The other couple are British, Patrick (James McAvoy) and Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), and their shy, mostly mute son Ant (Dan Hough), who live in scenic, rural west England. The Brits are fun, lively, and adventurous, particularly Patrick, who goes by Paddy, a breath of fresh air for the Americans. The two families have a great time in Paris, and the kids seem to hit it off too, despite the age difference and the fact that the boy has difficulty speaking, due a problem with his tongue. “Congenital aglossia,” says the British dad, who tells the Americans that he’s a doctor. When the British couple later send the London-based Americans a postcard with a photo from that trip, and invite them for a weekend visit at their home in the west England countryside, it doesn’t take much to persuade Ben and Louise.

SPEAK NO EVIL is an English-language remake of the Danish horror drama of the same name. In the Danish original, the couples are Danish and Dutch, and meet in Italy instead of France, but the Dutch couple lives in the country and invites the Danes one the visit. Like many such remakes, it varies from the origin – for example, in the original the children are about the same age – but in this case several scenes early on follow the original closely, even down the the dialog, although the last portion diverges.

One thing that is different – very different – from the start, and that is James McAvoy’s character. Rather than a harmless-seeming fellow, very like the other couple, McAvoy’s Paddy is alternately charming and a bit unsettling from the start, put us much more on edge from the start. No one does this kind of character like the talented Mr. McAvoy.

McAvoy is a big reason to see this film, which once it diverges from the original morphs into something that plays on a lot of horror tropes. But McAvoy always keeps us off-balance, being unhinged at times, while even touching at others, charmingly persuasive and rational, but always exuding power and a sense he’s in control – even when he’s not. It is thrilling just to see this actor work.

The tension develops slowly, apart from McAvoy’s character’s occasional flashes of scary. In the original, the couples feel more alike, which is a bit part of the appeal for the Danes. In the remake, it is the differences, the hints of excitement and adventure in the British couple, that is part of what draws in the Americans. Chalk it up to cultural differences.

This remake diverges significantly from the original, so they end up as very different films, although starting from a common premise. In both, the first half of this film feels more like psychological horror but finishes up in more taut thriller territory. For one thing, there are more weapons in this one, although not more gore. The original Danish film is more philosophical, more nihilistic, but this remake adds more rationale motives for what happens. It also adds more complicated relationships for the couples, and how those dynamics interact heightens interest, even when the newer film makes a turn into more conventional horror film territory, with a siege reminiscent of the classic STRAW DOGS. The last half is more rational, and the resolution is different, with the characters in American couple undergoing changes that are the opposite of what happens in the Danish film.

What lifts the film in this turn towards more typical horror is the cast. James McAvoy is splendid but the rest of the cast bring it too. Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy as the American couple struggling in their marriage deliver fine performances as their relationship dynamics shift under the challenges they face. Likewise, the kids are both very good, particularly newcomer Dan Hough who plays a larger role in this version despite his near-muteness. Aisling Franciosi is also good as Paddy’s seemingly harmless wife, and she and McAvoy bring a complexity to their relationship too, none of which appears in the first one.

Ultimately, SPEAK NO EVIL is less groundbreaking and unconventional than the Danish original but it is still a well-made, nail-biting, satisfying thriller, that is mostly elevated by its psychological thriller set-up and the strong performances of the cast, who are good on all levels.

SPEAK NO EVIL opens Friday, Sept. 13, in theaters.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars