Film: Speak No Evil
Cast: James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, Alix West Lefler, Aisling Franciosi, Dan Hough, Kris Hitchen, Motaz Malhees
Director: James Watkins
Rating: 3/5
Runtime: 110 min

This remake of the compelling 2022 Danish horror thriller ‘Gaesterne’, about a young family invited to spend the weekend at the idyllic remote country estate of a charming British family they befriended on vacation, is fairly well made and has its share of horrifying moments. James McAvoy plays another deranged villain (not too different from his roles in Split and Glass), Paddy, a doctor turned gentleman farmer whose charm and wit cloak a sinister threat. An American couple, Ben (Scoot McNairy) and Louise (Mackenzie Davis) living in London, are the ones invited to Paddy and Ciara’s (Aisling Franciosi) farmhouse abode. For the invitees it’s obviously going to be a weekend from hell.

The narrative is slow-burn, plying on the thrills incrementally. As the Americans’ fears escalate they slowly begin to realise Paddy’s deranged motive. Director James Watkins, ratchets up the tension slowly and steadily.