Speak No Evil (2024)

Streaming Service: Amazon Prime
Movie Name/Year: Speak No Evil (2024)
Genre: Horror, Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Length:  1h 50min
Rating: R
Director: James Watkins
Writers: James Watkins, Christian Tafdrup, Mads Tafdrup
Based On: A 2022 Danish-Dutch movie of the same name.
Actors: James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, Aisling Franciosi, Alix West Lefler, Dan Hough, Kris Hitchen, Motaz Malhees, Jakob Højlev Jørgensen

IMDb Blurb: A family is invited to spend a whole weekend in a lonely home in the countryside, but as the weekend progresses, they realize that a dark side lies within the family who invited them.

Selina’s Point of View:
I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t love the original version of this film. I felt they were going for slow tension, but it ended up feeling more like drama. I mentioned that critics loved the film, but that audience scores were probably going to reflect something else.

It looks like I was right, since the 2022 version of Speak No Evil is sitting at 84% for critics and a mere 58% for audiences.

The one thing I did like was the ending. It was bleak and horrifying. Everything you could want from a psychological, slow-burn horror. It was memorable, to say the least. In fact, it makes me remember the entire film as better than it actually was. Going back to my old review confused me, because my 1.5 rating definitely should have been slightly higher just for the impact of that ending. I think it should be more of a 2.5.

That brings us to the 2024 version.

I’m fairly certain that Americanizing this film ruined it.

Speak No Evil (2024) felt more like the slow-burn the 2022 version was going for. The acting in both was infallible, but the direction and production quality of those small off-putting moments that raised the tension throughout the film hit harder. I knew what was coming, and I still felt tense. I’m assuming that’s when some producer butted their nose in and reminded the director that Americans don’t love down endings and need action.

They replaced that memorable, lasting, bleak ending with an action sequence—the big battle. Took the bite right out of it and made it as forgettable as any other film.

With the upgrade in quality of the majority of the film, having the same brutal ending would have made it a near-perfect horror offering. It would have catapulted the 2024 version of Speak No Evil to the top of my list. I’d be praising it to anyone willing to listen and throwing it on at Halloween parties for years to come. Instead, they pulled out all its teeth and made it a joke. Padding that ending means that I won’t remember Speak No Evil (2024) by next week.

Shame.

Cat’s Point of View:
I remember rolling my eyes and asking “why?” out loud when I learned that Speak No Evil (2022) had been remade. I had enjoyed the original, which is also currently available for streaming as well (just don’t forget to turn on your subtitles unless you speak Dutch or Danish). We had reviewed the original movie when it premiered on Shudder at the time of its release.

Before watching for this review, Speak No Evil (2024) was one of the 2 final hold-outs from the movies in my top 10 of September2024’s Top 20 list. This one was a solid #6 on my must-see countdown. The only reason I had waited this long to watch it was so that I could have a fresh experience for this review, so that Selina and I could compare the two films together. I reasoned that if I let time lapse after watching, I likely could have gotten the movies mixed up. Now that I’ve seen the newest iteration of Speak No Evil, I am positive there would be no mistaking one for the other; even though they do follow a lot of the same points within the plot.

Selina and I were of two minds about the 2022 movie. I felt that the slow burn and awkward drama precursor to the horrific sharp left turn in the final act caused the film to have a more lasting impact. The bleak nature of the story left me staring at the screen with my soul weeping.

I didn’t know at the time, but I’ve since read that the original writer/director wanted the finale of the first Speak No Evil to be inexplicable in order to stand out from films where everything gets spoon-fed to an audience and tied up with a bow by the end. While I understand and applaud that decision, it would probably be the root of why there has been such a kneejerk reaction to the abruptness of the change in tone for the final act of the 2022 film.

The new Speak No Evil handled the pacing a little more deftly, though managed to maintain the slowly building awkward and sinister tension that permeated the story.  I applaud the changes that tweaked the fresh vision of this horrific scenario of wolves masquerading as sheep and the inevitable outcome.

I also discovered that some of the differences between the original movie and its remake were specifically created to gear the newer telling of the story to American audiences. The finale of the original Speak No Evil was intended as a satirical reflection on Danish culture; which, it seems, they felt wouldn't have resonated as well with the target audience. With that frame of reference, I understand why they made some of the changes.

The production team was absolutely brilliant in casting James McAvoy (Glass, The Sandman, The Book of Clarence). When he has embodied an antagonistic role, he is absolutely terrifying. This is about as far away from Narnia as you can get. His range is phenomenal. For that reason, I would have watched the new iteration of Speak No Evil even if I didn’t have a vested interest in seeing if making an “American remake” of the story would screw everything up or not.

I also liked how this new story ‘flipped the script’ between the parent of action and their more milquetoast counterpart. The ending is brutal and horrific for different reasons this time around, and the haunting aftermath was palpable as the credits began to roll.

Out of the pair, I’d have to say that I prefer the remake. Both, however, are fantastic at accomplishing exactly what they set out to do.

If you enjoy a psychological, twisty, and thrilling horror tale maybe check this new Speak No Evil out – even if you didn’t vibe with the first one… and maybe even if you did.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 83%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 83%
Metascore – 66%
Metacritic User Score – 6.9/10
IMDB Score – 6.8/10

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 1.5/5
Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 4.5/5

Movie Trailer: