In Universal and Blumhouse’s new horror film, Speak No Evil, two families meet while on vacation in Italy and immediately hit it off, leading to a trip to England’s West country where things begin to get quite dark.
Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy play an American couple living in London with their daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler), who meet James McAvoy’s outgoing Paddy and his wife (Aisling Franciosi) while on holiday in Italy. Soon, their family is invited to Paddy’s remote farmhouse home in the country. Once there, the Americans are charmed by Paddy’s gregarious nature but also put off by his treatment of their son Ant (Dan Hough) which gets tougher and even violent, convincing them maybe they should leave.
Speak No Evil is a new version of the Danish horror film that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2022 before streaming on Shudder, this one directed by James Watkins (The Woman in Black). Film critics Matthew Schuchman and Edward Douglas discuss what they did and didn’t like about this new take on a fairly recent critically-loved horror film.
Film Critic : Matthew Schuchman
In the early 90s, while at the video store with his friends who wanted to rent Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead, Matthew asked the clerk if they had any copies of Naked Lunch available. A film buff from an early age, he would turn his fascination into his own review site in 2010; Movie Review from Gene Shalit’s Moustache. From there, he provided his voice to such publications as Den of Geek, Coming Soon, and Verbicide magazine as a film reviewer and talent interviewer.
Film Critic : Edward Douglas
Edward Douglas has been writing about movies for over 20 years. 13 of those years were at ComingSoon.net, followed by writing for outlets such as Film Journal, Den of Geek, The New York Daily News, Gold Derby, Below the Line, and many more.
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Director: James Watkins
Screenwriters: Christian Tafdrup, Mads Tafdrup, James Watkins
Cast: James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, Aisling Franciosi, Alix West Lefler, Dan Hough
Producer: Jason Blum, Andrew Bonner, Igor Nola, Jon Romano
Production Co: Blumhouse Productions, Universal Pictures
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Rating: R (Strong Violence|Language|Some Sexual Content|Brief Drug Use)
Genre: Horror
Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): September 13, 2024
Runtime: 1 hour 50 minutes
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You can watch the trailer below: