{"id":29450,"date":"2024-09-12T14:46:13","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T21:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=29450"},"modified":"2024-09-12T14:46:13","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T21:46:13","slug":"speak-no-evil-mixes-dark-comedy-with-horror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=29450","title":{"rendered":"SPEAK NO EVIL Mixes Dark Comedy With Horror"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 110 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature from Universal Pictures and Blumhouse\nProductions opens at theaters on September 13th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Believe it or not, the new film Speak No Evil<\/em> is\nactually a remake of a very popular and critically lauded 2022 Danish film. It\neven won awards in its homeland. This information gave this reviewer the\nimpression that this redo might be more of an arthouse thriller than a chiller.\nAs it turns out, that assumption couldn\u2019t be further from the truth. This film\nis a disturbing effort that fully embraces fear and terror as it reveals\nitself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When quiet American couple Louise Dalton (Mackenzie Davis)\nand husband Ben (Scoot McNairy) visit Tuscany with anxiety-prone 11-year-old\ndaughter Agnes Dalton (Alix West Lefler), they repeatedly cross paths with\nanother family. Paddy (James McAvoy), Ciara (Aisling Franciosi) and their mute\nson Ant (Dan Hough) are a British family who seem to be enjoying their time a\nlittle more than the leads. After Paddy breaks the ice, Ben and Louise explain\nthat they have recently moved to London and are struggling to adapt to the\nchange in their lives. As it is later revealed, there is also friction in their\nmarriage. Paddy soon invites the family to stay at their remote farm, have some\nfun and disconnect from the outside world. An envious Ben is excited by the\nidea and Louise eventually relents. After arriving, it isn\u2019t long before\nextrovert Paddy begins to prod, resulting in an increasingly tense visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While the story embraces the clich\u00e9 of having the leads\nagree to travel to a desolate location to spend time with people they know\nlittle about, what follows is (at least during the first two-thirds of the\npicture) more unique than initially anticipated. In fact, the film starts as a\ndark comedy of manners, with the American leads attempting to get a handle on\ntheir blunt hosts, who are constantly poking fun at their politeness. As the\ntime passes, Paddy becomes more and more brazen, leading to some of the most\nawkward and uncomfortable conversations imaginable. In the process, the\nemasculated Ben almost becomes charmed by Paddy\u2019s directness and, at times,\ntoxic masculinity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The interactions do push some boundaries as to what an\naudience would expect a guest to tolerate, but they are indeed trapped on the\nfarm. The performances are also so excellent that viewers are carried along on\nthe ride. McAvoy appears to be having a great time in the role of the\ndiabolical Paddy, who engages Louise in arguments. He provokes in order to get\na big response, and then uses her reaction to bolster his own point. It creates\ntension not only between them, but between herself and husband Ben. And Ciara\nis no less trouble. Some memorable exchanges include a clash over Louise\u2019s\npescatarian eating habits, as well as an extremely unsettling exchange on\nparenting techniques. Co-star Davis convincingly moves from stoicism to more\novert defense tactics as the palpable strain increases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There is also an important and effective subplot involving\ndaughter Agnes, who is bunked with the speechless and oddly behaved Ant.\nInitially fearful and leery of being near him, the thread manages to take an\nunexpected turn as events progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When all is revealed and strain and pressure escalate into\nphysical confrontations, the film finally resorts to using standard genre\ntropes in order to deliver a dramatic climax. I\u2019ll admit to not having seen the\noriginal, but I get the sense that the close of the film was likely far more\nunsettling than what North American audiences are getting. But at least the\nfinal moments may also leave one wondering if some of the antagonist\u2019s\ntendencies haven\u2019t been transferred to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yes, the climax doesn\u2019t surprise, but at least it is\nexcitingly delivered and packs a literal wallop. This picture was screened to\ncritics with a public audience, and a number of the crowd were shouting at the\nscreen. While sometimes they complained about choices made by some of the\nindividuals, this reviewer couldn\u2019t help but notice how truly engaged they were\nin the climax. The cast in the film are very strong and early sections are\nunique enough to involve viewers in the plight of the protagonists. Although I\nsuspect this version of Speak No Evil<\/em> isn\u2019t as ruthless as the original,\nit\u2019ll provide the goods to anyone looking for a creepy evening at the cinema.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 110 minutes This feature from Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions opens at theaters on September 13th. Believe it or not, the new film Speak No Evil is actually a remake of a very popular and critically lauded 2022 Danish film. It even won awards in its homeland. This information gave this reviewer the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":29451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[215,887,3210,5170,5213,9319,10245,12847,16846,17781,18798,18799,18800,18801,23571],"class_list":["post-29450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-215","tag-aisling-franciosi","tag-blumhouse-productions","tag-danish","tag-dark-comedy","tag-horror","tag-james-mcavoy","tag-mackenzie-davis","tag-remake","tag-scoot-mcnairy","tag-speak-no-evil","tag-speak-no-evil-film-review","tag-speak-no-evil-movie-review","tag-speak-no-evil-review","tag-universal-pictures"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29450\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}