Speak No Evil (2024)
“Everybody talking. Nobody being honest”
James McAvoy does unhinged lunatic so well doesn’t he!
Gem of a film
#SpeakNoEvil
As posted to the madhouse of Twitter, 2nd October 2024
In near pitch black darkness and set against an ominous sounding single drum beat of a musical score, a car can be seen winding slowly along a single track road and whilst the driver and passenger beside them are largely unseen what isn’t is the young boy sitting silently in the back of the car and viewed entirely, and constantly, in the rear view mirror. As the opening credits continue to roll on screen and with their destination reached both the driver and his female adult passenger exit the car and almost immediately fall into a loving embrace as they survey their surroundings: a brightly lit cottage cutting through the darkened night all around them.
Cut to a clear and bright day and with an overhead shot of a lush green forest below the simple opening credits end with “SPEAK NO EVIL” in the centre of the screen and another quick cut immediately introduces us to the majority of the nine total characters in this psychological horror movie and the first of many societal dichotomies writ large on the screen. Whereas “Ben” (Scoot McNairy) and “Louise” (Mackenzie Davies) are quietly and happily sitting beside a swimming pool in an opulent looking holiday retreat high in the hills with their daughter “Agnes” (Alix West Lefler), “Paddy” (James McAvoy) at first politely interrupts their oasis like calm by asking if a nearby sun lounger is free before loudly dragging it along the pool side and next to his family “Ciara” (Aisling Franciosi) and young son “Ant” (Dan Hough). Paddy orders and quickly consumes a beer and whilst Louise asks her husband Ben if he’d like a beer too, the differences between the two families couldn’t be any more starkly apparent than with Paddy now leaping and somersaulting wildly into the swimming pool.
We now cut to Ben and Louise preparing for the evening meal and amid small talk they amble past Paddy and Ciara dancing provocatively in their bedroom to “Gloria” by Laura Branigan and the first in a number of largely 1980’s and early 1990’s tracks that interweave their way brilliantly through the film. But first we return to a vast banquet of an evening meal for a large collection of holiday guests seated at an elongated table and with Paddy bored with the conversation emanating from the mouth of the soon to be monikered “Danish Guy” he catches Ben’s eye by miming having a gun in his mouth and shooting himself. Ben laughs.
This brief scene is now followed by a much longer one and with Agnes distraught at her missing rabbit toy named “Hoppy”, Ben searches in vain through the winding streets that confirm for the first time the holidaymakers are high in the hills and mountains of Italy. Ben returns to his family to discover that Hoppy has been found and by their soon to be new friends Paddy and Ciara, with Paddy now insisting he take Agnes for a spin on his Vespa. “It’s hard to say no!” he exclaims before with wheels spinning he screeches into the first street corner and out of the sight of parents Ben and Louise who share worried looks. Ciara laughs off her husband’s exuberance but Ben and Louise cannot hide both their displeasure or their concerns for their daughter despite Agnes returning soon after safely and with an excited “That was so much fun!”.
An awkward invitation to afternoon dinner soon follows.
Another overhead shot quickly establishes yet another luxurious meal on a balcony overlooking the forest below but of more importance to the audience are the stark differences between the couples. After moving from America to London Ben was soon made redundant and talks vaguely of exploring his options whilst Louise hesitates through half-smiles before confirming she works in “PR”. Paddy meanwhile is a doctor who whilst taking a break from the stresses of paid work now volunteers for a European aid agency and with their respective children now playing happily together away from the dining table Ben is seemingly intoxicated with the carefree attitude of Paddy who although cuddling and embracing Ciara cannot look away from Louise. Paddy dominates the dinner conversation, often in a curt and off hand manner and with an invitation to visit his and Ciara’s south west coast house back in England reluctantly accepted, very awkwardly and reluctantly accepted, Paddy first invites “Torsten” (Jakob Højlev Jørgensen) AKA the “Danish Guy” to dine with them before cruelly embarrassing him. All four new friends explode into laughter as he departs from the table.
Another opulent evening meal immediately follows and without their respective children a drunken air pervades. Paddy yet again scores cheap points with another embarrassment of Torsten before performing a magic trick of sorts that sees the remains burning and drifting above the dining table and towards the night sky above.
Cut to the Houses of Parliament and a rain drenched London.
This is the opening 11 minutes of Speak No Evil.
And now you’re on your own!
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I’m reliably informed by my beautiful son (who has yet to see this movie) that a major reveal of the film is contained within the trailer and although this reveal has further layers to be developed within the film, spoilers are not the name of the game here and rather a human reaction is. I have therefore left a major character largely absent from the scene by scene dissection of the opening 11 minutes above and secondly I sincerely recommend this film to you and if you like your horror heavily laced with awkward, cringe inducing interludes that ratchet up the tension, you’re in for a treat! All such scenes are accompanied by a magnificent soundtrack with “Black Velvet” by Alannah Myles and especially “Eternal Flame” by The Bangles sure to have you wondering why you’re smiling and why you’re dreading the next scene to follow!
Blumhouse productions have triumphed again, so too director James Watkins (Eden Lake, The Woman in Black, The Take) and whilst not every piece of social commentary sticks (male masculinity, climate change, veganism or the daily hypocrisy of every day life), topics such as deceit, anger, grief, loss, abuse and especially the politics of politeness certainly do. “We’re all too fucking polite” and “man hands on misery to man” laments Paddy in one of his drunken rages and by the end of an absorbing film that doesn’t just rely on creaking floorboards and shock horrors you’ll no doubt be agreeing with Louise that he’s not a “pleasure to be around”.
He may even get his comeuppance.
Who’s to say?
Thanks for reading. I hope this message in a bottle in The Matrix finds you well, prospering, and the right way up in an upside down world.