After seeing the trailer for SPEAK NO EVIL countless times, I felt like I knew the entire story. Wrong. Writer/Director James Watkins still has plenty of surprises lurking in the stunning Italian countryside.
We meet Louise Dalton (Mackenzie Davis from "Terminator: Dark Fate" and "Blade Runner 2049) hovering near her 12 year old daughter Agnes at a resort pool. Agnes's less protective father Ben (Scoot McNairy from "Argo") is nearby on a lounge chair.
His attention is drawn to alpha male Paddy (James McAvoy), his wife Ciara and young son, Ant, poolside. Paddy is loud, the life of the party, bossy and clearly having fun.
Paddy orders beers for he and his wife, Ben tries to order one, but Louise thinks its a bit early in the day.
It's clear that Ben thinks Paddy is a Man's Man. You sense that he has aspirations to be the same.
The two threesomes meet again at a joint dinner in town and soon Paddy & Ciara seem to be around every corner of every jaw dropping little Italian town.
Finally connecting for a hilarious lunch then a dinner, the couple seem to hit it off.
Even their children seem to share similarities.
Agnes is a very young 12 and clings to her stuffed rabbit. Anxiety attacks lurk every time she's not near it. Paddy shares that Ant has a learning disability that prevents him from saying much of anything.
Vacations end.
The Dalton's return to their new home in London, where the screenplay by Watkins (2012's "The Woman in Black") begins to reveal fractures in Louise and Ben's relationship.
On a whim, they decide to take Paddy up on his invitation to visit them at their secluded home, deep in the countryside.
If you've seen the trailers, including the one below, you know a lot about what happens. But you know much less than you think.
Before the film spins its wild final 30 minutes, it's an intriguing tale that keeps you guessing. Just who is Paddy? Is he the charming over-sharer that turns any social situation on its head with quick wit? Or is he the more twisted version that seems to flash before us, a peek here, a fading smile there?
James McAvoy is a terrific lead as Paddy. He's hilarious & terrifying, not an easy mix to execute. McAvoy was excellent showcasing many personalities in "Split", but Paddy is more grounded in reality. As Paddy's wife Ciara, Aisling Franciosi (Game of Thrones) gives off serious, earthy Shailene Woodley vibes. Her Ciara is perhaps the most challenging character to decipher.
Davis is great as Louise. She is the one person in the story that we most relate to, cringing in shock as facades begin to fall.
McNairy is terrific, even as he begins to sink into a sewer of Paddy's very dangerous ideas about life. I could feel McNairy's Ben being seduced by the apparent control over his own life that Paddy's oozes. In contrast, Ben feels like a man cornered by his own choices. Props to McNairy, because I had no idea what to expect when Ben is forced to step up.
Special kudos to the two young actors that play Agnes (Alex West Lefler) and Ant (Dan Hough). They are both superb. Twice in the film, once in the mysterious opening scene and then again in the final shot, Hough's eyes pull you in and you can feel everything he is experiencing in the moment. He's one to watch.
I was drawn immediately into the film by the hypnotic score from Danny Bensi (The Exorcism) and Saunder Jurriaans (Apple TV+'s "Presumed Innocent"). Setting the tone perfectly, they turn the screw slowly until the final 30 minutes, when their music score and Watkins unleash a tense, violent confrontation, spilling all of Paddy's secrets and plenty of blood.
The finale feels like a game of hide and seek with deadly consequences. All our characters are dropped into a physical and psychological battle that you can feel.
McAvoy perfectly pulls out all the stops. He feels as dangerous as Jack Torrance in "The Shining", if Nicholson had put on 50 lbs of muscle.
Based on the original 2022 Danish film, "Speak No Evil", Watkins has crafted a tightly wound psychological horror film that ever so slowly tightens its grip on you.
If the trailer had truly given away all its secrets, it would have been a passable Blumhouse horror entry. But that house in the countryside has many chambers, many doors. Trying to keep them barricaded against what's behind them is one hell of a ride in SPEAK NO EVIL.
It gets a very solid B.
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