Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton
Week of September 9, 2024
Speak No Evil
Rated R for some strong violence, language, some sexual content and brief drug use
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86% at time of writing
In Theaters
This remake of the Danish film by the same name finds two young families becoming friendly while they are vacationing in Tuscany and promising to meet up again sometime in the near future. Getting an invite at just the right time, the American family living in London decides to visit the other family’s rural country home. Once there, things appear odd and explanations for the oddity don’t make a lot of sense, but the American couple try not to be rude house guests and keep their unhappiness with the “vacation” as hidden as possible. But as the awkwardness becomes unsustainable, the visitors begin to learn that they are not welcome to leave. Personally, I wasn’t even aware of the original until I heard a couple talking about it in the theater before the film. Apparently, it has quite the following and is considered by many to be a modern horror masterpiece. I’m actually kind of glad I didn’t see that one (yet) because I walked out of the theater very happy and many in the theater were very much the opposite. As a person who makes vacation friends, the plot immediately captured my imagination and I found the story to be extremely relatable. While the I found the American wife (Mackenzie Davis) to be a little annoying, I went along with it assuming that was the point, which it was. I felt horrible for the husband (Scoot McNairy), feeling empathy for how weak he was and how helpless he felt as a husband and a houseguest. What stirs things up is how good James McAvoy is as the host. You immediately get a scary sense of chaos out of him, and you know from the start that something bad is destined to happen. His wife (Aisling Franciosi) also makes for a terrific villain as she is so convincingly calm and friendly on the outside, that you can hardly tell that a demon lies within. This dynamic plays out so nicely and you can’t help but get goosebumps as the film moves into the dangerous third act. I do wish that the film hadn’t laid out so much information in the trailer, as there were some key sequences I was already aware of, and I had too good of an idea about the plot before seeing it unfold. But there were still surprises to be had and I consider this to be one of the scarier movies I’ve seen in the last decade. A-