#94 – Speak No Evil (2024) Review – The Complete Guide to Horror Movies

It’s a bird, It’s a plane!
It’s… another Blumhouse remake of an existing IP…

Join Justin, BP and Coop as we discuss the remake of Speak No Evil, the americanised 2024 release inspired by the 2022 Dutch/Danish masterpiece of the same name.

Its plot follows an American family who are invited to stay at a remote farmhouse of a British couple for the weekend, and the hosts soon begin to test the limits of their guests as the situation escalates.

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Production
James Watkins wrote and directed the film for Blumhouse Productions. It is a remake of the 2022 Danish film of the same name. In April 2023, James McAvoy and Mackenzie Davis were reported to be in the cast. The following month, Scoot McNairy joined the cast. Principal photography took place in Croatia and Gloucester, England, in May and was expected to end in July, before filming was suspended five days before it was to wrap up due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. In mid-November, production resumed in the United Kingdom, filming at Saxon’s Lode Manor House near Malvern Hills, Worcestershire. The manor’s architecture provided the desired English backdrop for the movie’s tense scenes.

Release
Jason Blum serves as a producer through his Blumhouse Productions banner. Speak No Evil premiered at the DGA Theater in New York City on September 9, 2024, and was released in the United States by Universal Pictures on September 13, 2024. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and has grossed $76 million worldwide against a budget of $15 million. Critical Response On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 83% of 198 critics’ reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website’s consensus reads: “Harnessing sick suspense from the glimmer in James McAvoy’s eye, Speak No Evil is the rare remake that hushes up concerns of ‘been there, done that.’” Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 66 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating “generally favorable” reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of B+ on an A+ to F scale.

Original Speak No Evil Director’s Response
Tafdrup’s response The remake’s ending sparked mixed reactions, as it contrasted the original film’s ending where the antagonists killed the couple and cut their daughter’s tongue before taking her in as their own. The original film’s director and writer, Christian Tafdrup, criticized the change, adding, “I don’t know what it is about Americans, but they are brought up for a heroic tale, where the good must win over the bad, and this version of the film cultivates that.”

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