Speak No Evil (Denmark/Netherlands, 2022)

I almost picked Speak No Evil for my 2023 challenge, but it just missed the shortlist. There are just too many intriguing films to fit into a month. It caught my attention again when I read that the American remake was garnering good reviews. Rather than watch that, however, I thought I’d go back to the original, as few horror films are improved by remaking them. More on that later.

Speak No Evil is currently streaming on Shudder in the UK

Synopsis

Bjørn and Louise, a middle-class couple from Denmark, take a family holiday to Tuscany, with their young daughter Agnes. There, they meet a Dutch couple, Patrick and Karin, and their son Abel. The two couples strike up a casual friendship, largely instigated by Patrick, and make the usual promises about meeting up again.

Some while later, Bjørn and Louise receive an invitation to visit their holiday pals for a long weekend. They are reluctant at first, but the Dutch couple are insistent. Bjørn works out that they can drive to the Netherlands easily enough, and so they set off.

From the moment the Danes arrive, everything feels wrong. Patrick pressures the vegetarian Louise to eat some wild boar he has prepared, and she is too polite to refuse. An evening out at a local restaurant becomes filled with anxiety when the hosts arrange for a strange man to babysit the children. As the weekend goes on, the hosts become steadily more intrusive, even walking in on their guests in the bathroom.

But it is the treatment of the children that raises the biggest red flags. Patrick explains that Abel was born without a tongue, which presents him problems with communication. His parents don’t have much patience with this, and Patrick’s treatment of his son becomes steadily more abusive. The Danes are even more uncomfortable when their hosts grow overly familiar with Agnes. But this is only the beginning.

How far will Bjørn and Louise let their hosts take things? Does pushing back just make them bad guests? And just what are Patrick and Karin building towards?

General Thoughts

I don’t think I’ve even seen a film that uses social anxiety and the weaponisation of everyday politeness to such great effect. The closest may be the 2014 horror film Creep, and its sequel, although those go nowhere near as far as Speak No Evil does. It is a perfect exploration of how abusers and other psychopaths can manipulate people, using our natural social instincts against us. While I have seen some reviews complain that the climax is unrealistic, just reading the news offers far too many counter-examples for me to shrug it off. The end just feels inevitable.

While I have yet to see the 2024 US/UK version, I did look up plot details as I was wondering what the point of remaking Speak No Evil was. The vast majority of the dialogue in the original is in English, as that is the only language the two couples have in common. There are moments where the families speak to each other in their own tongues, sometimes as a way of excluding other characters, but this is not a film that will tax you with subtitles.

It looks to me like the main point of the remake may simply be to defang what is one of the darkest horror films I have seen. As with the American reimaginings like The Vanishing, Martyrs, and even The Wicker Man, it takes a nightmarish story and turns it into something safe and uplifting that will leave viewers untroubled. Maybe I’m just a grumpy old sod, but that seems to be missing the entire fucking point.

Verdict

Just one day after saying that Oddity may be my film of the month, I already have to reassess. Speak No Evil is simply one of the most intense things I have ever seen on screen. It builds slowly, ratcheting up discomfort at the escalating breaches of social norms, until it turns into a full-bore nightmare.

I can’t remember the last time a horror film caught me so badly off-guard. For the first hour, Speak No Evil is uncomfortable and creepy, but I did wonder if I could really call it horror. And then the gloves came off and I realised I was watching something that could hurt me. The final act is brutal, moving inexorably towards atrocity, never letting go.

Nothing about Speak No Evil is easy to watch. Even before we escalate into actual horror, the weird behaviour of Patrick and Karin will make most viewers squirm. There are echoes of the worst kinds of cringe comedy, but without the release of laughter. Nothing the hosts do is funny, only deeply uncomfortable.

If you are in the mood for something challenging this month, and you have a strong stomach for both social anxiety and outright sadism, Speak No Evil should prove an unforgettable watch.

The October Horror Movie Challenge

Please do join in and share your own thoughts with us about this or any other films as the month goes on. You can usually find us on Twitter, BlueSky, Reddit, Discord, or lurking in the dark corners of your home.

If you would like to play along at home, my provisional selections are:

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (USA, 2021)
Tales That Witness Madness (UK, 1973)
When Evil Lurks (Argentina, 2023)
Under Paris (France, 2024)
In a Violent Nature (Canada, 2024)
Torso (Italy, 1973)
Titane (France, 2021)
Rorschach (USA, 2015)
The Coffee Table (Spain, 2024)
Dr Caligari (USA, 1989)
Bit (USA, 2020)
The Guard From Underground (Japan, 1992)
Oddity (Ireland, 2024)
Speak No Evil (Denmark/Netherlands, 2022)
Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (USA, 1982)
Grave Torture (Indonesia, 2024)
Bedlam (USA, 1946)
The Innsmouth School For Girls (USA, 2023)
Daddy’s Head (UK, 2024)
All You Need Is Death (Ireland, 2024)
Eight Eyes (USA/Serbia, 2021)
Poor Things (Ireland/UK/USA, 2023)
Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eye (Italy, 1973)
Longlegs (USA, 2024)
Night of Fear (Australia, 1973)
Stopmotion (UK, 2024)
Terrifier (USA, 2016)
Azrael (USA, 2024)
Faust (Germany, 1926)
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (Hong Kong, 1991)
I Saw the TV Glow (USA, 2024)

A Final Note

If you have been enticed here by these posts, please do look around at some of our other film reviews. We also have a podcast, called The Good Friends of Jackson Elias, which occasionally covers horror films. If this appeals, you might want to check out some of the following episodes.