The Daltons’ family unit, which also includes daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler) are strangely drawn to Paddy, his partner Ciara (Aisling Franciosi) and their son Ant (Dan Hough). Louise is hesitant but Ben sees a free spirit in Paddy that he misses in himself and is willing to look past the eccentricities that Paddy has in overabundance. After the Italian holiday finishes, they are invited to join their new friends at their home in England.

What starts as a fairly straightforward domestic tale turns very strange as the threesome ventures into the weird world of Paddy and his farm. As the oddities add up slowly at first and then quickly, the dynamic changes. Then things take a step to the extreme. Friendship turns adversarial and it makes you look at things in an entirely different manner.

James McAvoy’s acting chops are on full display here. He keeps you on the knife’s edge throughout with a performance that is both unsettling and menacing. This is needed to keep your interest as the story slows down and offers few surprises in the final reel. In the parlance of gymnastics, Speak No Evil fails to stick the landing. With McAvoy’s performance in mind, it’s still a worthwhile view but has the aftereffect of preventing you from ever becoming friends with strangers you meet on holiday.
Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/UniversalPicturesAU/

From Blumhouse, the producer of The Black Phone, Get Out and The Invisible Man, comes an intense suspense thriller for our modern age, starring BAFTA award-winner James McAvoy (Split, Glass) in a riveting performance as the charismatic, alpha-male estate owner whose untrammeled hospitality masks an unspeakable darkness.

Speak No Evil stars Mackenzie Davis (Terminator: Dark Fate, Halt and Catch Fire) and SAG award-winner Scoot McNairy (Argo, A Quiet Place Part II) as American couple Louise and Ben Dalton, who, along with their 11-year-old daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler; The Good Nurse, Riverdale), accept the weekend-holiday invitation of Paddy (McAvoy), his wife Ciara (Aisling Franciosi; Game of Thrones, The Fall) and their furtive, mute son Ant (newcomer Dan Hough).

Written for the screen and directed by James Watkins, the writer-director of Eden Lake and the award-winning gothic ghost story The Woman in Black, Speak No Evil is based on the screenplay of the 2022 Danish horror sensation Gæsterne, written by Christian Tafdrup and Mads Tafdrup. That film earned 11 Danish Film Awards nominations, the Danish equivalent of the Oscars.

Speak No Evil is produced by Jason Blum (Five Nights at Freddy’s, M3GAN) for Blumhouse and by Paul Ritchie (McMafia, The Ipcress File) and is executive produced by Beatriz Sequeira for Blumhouse, Jacob Jarek and Christian Tafdrup.
www.facebook.com/UniversalPicturesAU/

From Blumhouse, the producer of The Black Phone, Get Out and The Invisible Man, comes an intense suspense thriller for our modern age, starring BAFTA award-winner James McAvoy (Split, Glass) in a riveting performance as the charismatic, alpha-male estate owner whose untrammeled hospitality masks an unspeakable darkness.

Speak No Evil stars Mackenzie Davis (Terminator: Dark Fate, Halt and Catch Fire) and SAG award-winner Scoot McNairy (Argo, A Quiet Place Part II) as American couple Louise and Ben Dalton, who, along with their 11-year-old daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler; The Good Nurse, Riverdale), accept the weekend-holiday invitation of Paddy (McAvoy), his wife Ciara (Aisling Franciosi; Game of Thrones, The Fall) and their furtive, mute son Ant (newcomer Dan Hough).

Written for the screen and directed by James Watkins, the writer-director of Eden Lake and the award-winning gothic ghost story The Woman in Black, Speak No Evil is based on the screenplay of the 2022 Danish horror sensation Gæsterne, written by Christian Tafdrup and Mads Tafdrup. That film earned 11 Danish Film Awards nominations, the Danish equivalent of the Oscars.

Speak No Evil is produced by Jason Blum (Five Nights at Freddy’s, M3GAN) for Blumhouse and by Paul Ritchie (McMafia, The Ipcress File) and is executive produced by Beatriz Sequeira for Blumhouse, Jacob Jarek and Christian Tafdrup.
www.facebook.com/UniversalPicturesAU/