Blumhouse is back with another psychological thriller, Speak No Evil. Leading the film is James McAvoy. Speak No Evil is based on a Danish film of the same name.

When an American family is invited to spend the weekend at the idyllic country estate of a charming British family they befriended on vacation, what begins as a dream holiday soon warps into a snarled psychological nightmare. 

Review

This ‘remake’, of a movie that was only 2 years old, changes things from the original. The film follows a series of completely and utterly stupid decisions by a seemingly clueless family that defies any logic. Even if we are to believe that these characters are this way, it all feels so delusional that one can’t help but yell at the screen. And yell we did at our screening. Unlike the original, Speak No Evil (2024) fails to go as dark or as far as its source film, which ultimately costs the movie.

The first 2/3 of the film are slow, and seemingly pointless in an annoying sense. Without spoiling much, the Looney Tune scene between Daffy and Bugs fighting over rabbit season and duck season fits the final 1/3 of the film. Even as the family makes borderline cartoonish decisions, the acting brought on by James McAvoy, and Mackenzie Davis are the dueling powerhouses of the film on opposite sides of the sanity scale. McAvoy has a knack for roles with characters who are deranged, which speaks to his ability to provide a wide range as an actor. Davis’ shift throughout the film from a caring clueless mother to an increasingly unnerved clueless mother was equally well crafted.

It has been a long time since a film has brought up such a high level of anxiety while watching it. Perhaps that was the goal, after all, it is a Blumhouse film. But this is also why I generally dislike these types of movies. I am all for a good scare or physiological thriller. But at least make me believe the characters have 2 brain cells. The general lazy approach to a remake of a film that was already poorly received and made even more tame was just a recipe for a streaming Saturday flick, and not something you should bother seeing in theatres.

Courtesy of Universal Pictures