SPEAK NO EVIL: James McAvoy's "Unhinged" Performance Earns Horror Remake 88% Rotten Tomatoes Score

SPEAK NO EVIL: James McAvoy's "Unhinged" Performance Earns Horror Remake 88% Rotten Tomatoes Score

The review embargo for Blumhouse's remake of disturbing Danish horror film Speak No Evil lifted earlier today, and the movie is currently sitting at 88% on Rotten Tomatoes...

By MarkCassidy - Sep 10, 2024 10:09 PM EST
Filed Under: Horror
Source: Via FearHQ

The full review embargo for Universal Pictures and Blumhouse's remake of disturbing Danish horror film Speak No Evil lifted earlier today, and the critical consensus is (mostly) very positive - although it sounds like some significant changes were made to the relentlessly bleak original.

With 44 reviews counted, the movie currently sits at a very impressive 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The blackly funny thriller follows an American family who befriend a seemingly gregarious British doctor (X-Men: First Class star James McAvoy) and his wife and son while on vacation and agree to go and stay with them for the weekend. Before too long, the friendly facade begins to slip, and it soon becomes clear that something is very wrong in the household.

The reactions are all full of praise for McAvoy's performance, and the majority of people who have seen the movie seem to feel that toning down/altering certain elements of the original was actually the right move for this adaptation.

If you've seen the Danish film, you'll know what we're referring to. If not, no spoilers here (check back for a full breakdown over the weekend).

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. From Blumhouse, the producer of The Black Phone, Get Out and The Invisible Man, comes 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.

Speak No Evil stars also 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 Dan 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.

Speak No Evil is produced by Jason Blum (Five Nights at Freddy’s, M3GAN) for Blumhouse and by Paul Ritchie (McMafia, The Ipcress File) and is executive produced by Beatriz Sequeira for Blumhouse, Jacob Jarek and Christian Tafdrup.

The movie is set to hit theaters this weekend. Do you plan on catching this one on the big screen?

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dracula
dracula - 9/10/2024, 10:02 PM
Heard they changed the ending
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 9/11/2024, 1:22 AM
@dracula - How so?
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 9/11/2024, 7:05 AM
@SonOfAGif - The other Charles Xavier, sir Patrick Stewart, shows up in a wheelchair because McAvoy's unhinged character put him in it Misery style. X-Men prequel, Misery Sequel. BAM!
dracula
dracula - 9/11/2024, 8:52 AM
@SonOfAGif - gave it a happy ending
marvel72
marvel72 - 9/11/2024, 12:14 PM
@dracula - Watch the original it's excellent,they spoil too much in these remake trailers.
marvel72
marvel72 - 9/11/2024, 12:15 PM
@dracula - Really? The ending stayed with me for days.

Another movie too watch The Coffee Table, go in blind and you'll be shocked.
NinnesMBC
NinnesMBC - 9/10/2024, 10:10 PM
I'll definitely check it out, McAvoy seems to be having a lot of fun so I'm willing to indulge with it.
Shivermetimbers
Shivermetimbers - 9/11/2024, 10:44 AM
@NinnesMBC - He's a great actor, I am shocked he hasn't landed more massive roles. Definitely seems worth the cost of admission just to see him do his thing here.
NinnesMBC
NinnesMBC - 9/12/2024, 1:15 AM
@Shivermetimbers - He really is and every now and then I realize that as well, he hasn't gotten as well any nominations for any awards which might be crazier. He gives his all in any roles he taps in: earnest hero or this kind of malicious and disturbing villain.

Agreed, he's the big draw here.
ImNotaBot
ImNotaBot - 9/10/2024, 10:26 PM
The original is trash, the characters are on another level of dumb. I know that the movie is kind off a warning for parents, but what kind of dumb-ass parents they were aiming for? Im glad this remake is better, looking foward to watch it.
DrDReturns
DrDReturns - 9/10/2024, 11:35 PM
@ImNotaBot - The original is garbage. I'm sure it achieved what the Director set out to do, but it was an awful viewing experience.

Don't care if they made changes. I have no interest in a pointless remake.
mountainman
mountainman - 9/10/2024, 10:58 PM
McAvoy is such a great actor. Normally not a big horror fan, but I’ll likely check this one out.
Nightmare
Nightmare - 9/10/2024, 11:00 PM
User Comment Image
McAvoy got that roid rage.
RegularPoochie
RegularPoochie - 9/11/2024, 1:54 AM
@Nightmare - more roids and make him Wolverine, lol.
solskulldeath
solskulldeath - 9/10/2024, 11:14 PM
that thumbnails reminds me of jack Nicholson but in a different way.
Forthas
Forthas - 9/10/2024, 11:23 PM
He looks pretty scary!
MrDandy
MrDandy - 9/10/2024, 11:23 PM
Just watched the original. The choice to remake this is pretty headscratching. The original was only 2022 and 70% is already I. English. Secondly the theme of the movie is about the Dutch “death by being polite”. That going along to get along is basically the same as a frog slowly being boiled. It’s more social satire than horror. This theme doesn’t play as well set in the US where we have more a reputation for being more brash.

I have no idea how they are going to handle this.
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 9/11/2024, 1:00 AM
@MrDandy - Sean of the Dead was a Satire and is loved in the US along with movies such as The World's End, This is the end, Killer Klowns From Outer Space, Scary Movie, Little Shop of Horrors, Terrifier 2, and The Cabin in the Woods.
MrDandy
MrDandy - 9/11/2024, 1:22 AM
@SonOfAGif - that’s not the point. The point is it is based on a foreign film that was a dark satire regarding the perception of courtesy within that culture.
TheRationalNerd
TheRationalNerd - 9/10/2024, 11:25 PM
McAvoy + Horror = great cinema

it's just that simple.
Malatrova15
Malatrova15 - 9/11/2024, 12:04 AM
I speak some evil..no biggie
DocSpock
DocSpock - 9/11/2024, 12:38 AM

When this comes out, I will treat it like any other day.

I’ll get blitzed drunk, go see the movie, and thank the stars that my long suffering wife once again didn’t murder me in my sleep.

Wheeee!!!!!
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 9/11/2024, 1:02 AM
@DocSpock - That's how I saw Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends, My partner loves Michael Myers and to me the character is an icon but definitely lame in comparison to the other legends out there. I loved Halloween (2018) but knew Kills and Ends was going to be abysmal and I'm glad I was blasted on my white girls aka white claws.
DocSpock
DocSpock - 9/11/2024, 1:38 AM
@SonOfAGif -

Halloween 1&2 = iconic greatness. The others are all crap.
Kadara
Kadara - 9/11/2024, 12:57 AM
I don't get why American audiences need their happy endings (!) Seriously that's why I enjoy foreign movies where the story is more logical.
99OPTIMISTPRIME
99OPTIMISTPRIME - 9/11/2024, 1:02 AM
Finally, a movie I'm excited to go see. "It's been 84 years."
99OPTIMISTPRIME
99OPTIMISTPRIME - 9/11/2024, 1:06 AM
BTW, the ending should NEVER be mentioned, in a review headline.😠
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 9/11/2024, 1:29 AM
What I find strange about American Horror movies specifically remakes is how tame they choose to be. Meanwhile American Horror Films like In a Violent Nature, Terrifier 2, Saw, Hostel, and so on exist and broke barriers in horror. Yet foreign horror movies go all in on making one feel unsettled and uncomfortable but American remakes of said horrors want to tone back the insanity in the foreign versions. It's so weird. On one end it's ok to go over the top but on another it's not ok to maintain the same disturbing plotlines as an original.
MercwithMouth
MercwithMouth - 9/11/2024, 9:54 AM
McAvoy has some of the best range in acting today. I'll see this just to see what he does.

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