Speak No Evil (15)

★★★★ This remake of a Danish story of an unwary family who follow a charismatic couple on holiday has lost some of its nihilism but McAvoy packs real power. ~ The Guardian.

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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.

When an American family is invited to spend the weekend at the idyllic country estate of a charming British family they befriended on vacation, what begins as a dream holiday soon warps into a snarled psychological nightmare.

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 Daniel 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. 

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★★★★★ James McAvoy is masterful in this thrillingly twisted horror-comedy; an unnervingly hilarious, rollicking wild ride that ignites all the senses. ~ Evening Standard.

★★★★ While British-born writer-director James Watkins’s take on the Danish psychological horror of the same name makes occasional concessions to what’s often (disparagingly) called the popcorn crowd, the "new" Speak No Evil is no less stark, satirical or unsettling as its source material. ~ Radio Times.

★★★★ ~ The Telegraph.

★★★★ ~ Irish Times.

★★★★ ~ The Times.

★★★★ ~ Time Out.

★★★★ ~ Empire.

★★★★ ~ The i.

★★★★ ~ NME.