Speak No Evil: James McAvoy is scarily smart and smartly scary

The Snapshot: Mackenzie Davis and James McAvoy lead a spine-tingling ensemble of six outstanding actors, giving terrific, tense performances as two families with some dark secrets.

Speak No Evil

7 out of 10

14A, 1hr 50mins. Mystery Thriller Drama.

Written and directed by James Watkins.

Starring Mackenzie Davis, James McAvoy, Scoot McNairy, Alix West Lefler, Aisling Franciosi and Dan Hough.

Now playing in St. Catharines at Landmark Theatres, Pen Centre 

New friends are hard to make these days - especially when your weekend getaway might dissolve into kidnapping, murder, and blackmail. But what are friends for anyway?

That’s the premise of Universal’s Speak No Evil, an endlessly suspenseful thriller which will see most of the thin hairs on your arms stand up with an ominous chill. Six fully committed and disciplined actors lead this strong ensemble of a pleasant weekend in the country gone very, very wrong.

A remake of the 2022 Danish horror film of the same title, writer/director James Watkins has cut the story to exude every drop of foreboding danger possible. Hollywood remakes rarely showcase this level of nuance and care that honours the tone of its inspiration, but Watkins has successfully maintained the tone.

The story begins with two families - one American and one English - meeting on a luxury holiday. After they become friends, the Americans, led by Louise (Mackenzie Davis) go to visit the English countryside where father Paddy (James McAvoy) and his family have a small, isolated farm. But of course, Paddy and his family slowly reveal pleasant first impressions can be misleading…

While the whole cast is exceptionally strong, Davis and McAvoy are the clear standouts. Davis is compelling as the mother trying to escape and keep her family safe, and McAvoy has the showiest part as the brash, charming, and questionably trustworthy Paddy.

The real surprise, however, are the two children, both of whom show dazzling talent as the children in crisis. Both Alix West Lefler as Louise’s daughter Agnes and Dan Hough as Paddy’s son Ant both show high emotional stakes and vulnerability.

Where Speak No Evil loses some steam is the length of its tense buildup before the story’s twist. The many subtle signs of danger makes for a long wait before the friends start squaring off, and however well produced the film is, the run time is still overlong.

What I found really interesting was how effective the creepy tone was kept even though most scenes on the farm are in the daytime. Watkins made a brave choice keeping the peril in yellow sunlight - matching the story’s main theme that threats can be uncertain even in plain sight.

Even though the film is billed as horror, the scaring isn’t the film’s priority as is the mystery of what’s really going on at the farm. It’s similar in thrill level to McAvoy’s 2017 thriller Split, also featuring him as a menacing man of mystery.

Yes, James McAvoy delivers in the marketing’s promise of a gripping performance as the (obvious) villain. But come for McAvoy’s Paddy and stay for the other five actors’ equally great work as they speak a bit more evil than the title implies.