It’s been just 2 years since Danish director Christian Tafdrup's psychological horror, Speak No Evil. A psychological thriller about a family being invited to stay in the villa of a couple they had recently met on vacation, and also a social satire which commentated on different and contradictory methods within European hospitality. Now, we have a remake courtesy of Blumhouse and Writer/Director James Watkins which hits many of the same beats, but is focused on giving a much different experience than the original 2022 horror. Where the original film is intentionally cold, distant and overtly bleak, Watkin’s approaches his adaptation as a pulpy, white-knuckled crowd pleaser. 

 

After the Dalton family meets couple Paddy and Ciara while on their vacation in Italy, they’re eventually invited to their countryside home in England. Through the course of the film, the limits of their hospitality are tested. Though the situations become increasingly uncomfortable, there’s a lot of sharp dark humor through these situations. Paddy and Ciara constantly challenge the Dalton family in either humorous or patronizing ways. Though it does draw some of the same ideas as the original film, Watkins goes a few steps further to make Paddy and Ciara a bit more transgressive towards the Daltons: who themselves are perhaps a perfect portrait of the crumbling standards of the nuclear family. Many questions about gender dynamics and their familial roles stem from these interactions, and results in a piece I found pretty invigorating sociologically. 

 

Ben and Louise Dalton, played by Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy, are a very fascinating contrast to James McAvoy’s and Aisling Franciosi’s Paddy and Ciara. Ben presents himself as proper, but small, as Paddy is huge and rambunctious. However, he attempts to mentor Ben in what kind of man he should be to his family. Adding that to Louise and Ciara’s matriarchal stand-off only stoked the flames in the tension between these two couples. Conflicts turn into more chaos, and then their own kids get involved, and what becomes chaotic and messy, just gets real ugly, real fast. 

 

What makes Speak No Evil interesting though, is its approach to the material. The film is pulpy and white knuckled, and unlike the overt bleakness and helplessness of the original 2022 film, this new adaptation is an absolute crowd pleaser. This may be a turn off to the fans of Tafdrup’s film, understandably, as it sacrifices its subtle atmosphere and aloof tendencies for something more overt and in your face. Personally, I just clicked with Watkin’s take more. However, take this as a recommendation to both films. Both with perfectly realized visions that are entirely different approaches.