The thriller stars an Irish actress in one of the lead roles.
Speak No Evil, the excellent 2024 psychological thriller movie, has just been added to Netflix.
The film begins with Ben and Louise (played by Scoot McNairy and Mackenzie Davis), an American couple living in London, going on vacation in Italy. They have a lovely time and make friends with a British couple, Ciara and Paddy (Irish actress Aisling Franciosi and James McAvoy), while there.
Sometime later, during a period of marital difficulty, Ben and Louise receive a letter from their vacation friends, inviting them to come to their remote farmhouse in Devon.
The couple decides to go, hoping the change of scenery will be good for them and their young daughter, Agnes (Alix West Lefler), who has anxiety.
Over the course of the visit, tensions flare between the group, as Ciara and Paddy reveal themselves to be quite different to how they first appeared.
Speak No Evil is an English-language remake of a brilliant albeit devastatingly bleak Danish horror thriller from 2022.
This retelling certainly tones down several of the more shocking elements of the original. We’d argue that the compelling nihilism and gutsy follow-through of the source material is slightly missed in the 2024 version.
That said, by sanding off those rougher edges, the English-language remake winds up a supremely watchable take on a particular type of classic Hollywood sub-genre: the “from hell” thriller (or in this case “the vacation friends from hell” thriller). It’s more in the same vein as Fatal Attraction, Single White Female or Pacific Heights, adult-focused thrillers about people being seduced by charming strangers with sinister ulterior motives.
You won’t be able to take your eyes off the screen as Ciara and Paddy begin overstepping Ben and Louise’s personal boundaries, almost as if they are testing how much of this they will take before pushing back.
This results in a series of painfully awkward social interactions and gasp- and sigh-inducing moments. These are scenes that feel crafted to be watched in a group, so you can see how your fellow audience members will react.
James McAvoy and Aisling Franciosi in Speak No Evil, now on Netflix
The cast is excellent, particularly Franciosi and a live-wire McAvoy as the hosts from hell, while writer-director James Watkins (Eden Lake, The Woman in Black) stages some incredibly suspenseful sequences.
At the time of the remake’s release, we wrote: “For being based on such a shocking film, the 2024 Speak No Evil accomplishes something very surprising – it makes for a great date movie, one that will thrill patrons while also having them talk for hours after the credits roll about what they would have done differently to the characters.”
“And if it gets audiences to discover the original, that’s all the better.”
