‘Speak No Evil’ Review: Creepy James McAvoy Creeps Us Out in a Creepy, Creepy Remake

James Watkins’ “Speak No Evil” — a film in which quite a bit of evil gets spoken — is in many ways a familiar film. Unsuspecting innocent people find themselves in the company of strangers who say they’re trustworthy, but probably aren’t. The audience picks up on lots of red flags that either the heroes don’t notice or they brush off, for reasons that make sense to them at the time but put them in harm’s way. Eventually it all hits a crescendo of violence and thrills.

You could argue that if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all, but it would be a pithy argument. Especially since “Speak No Evil” is a remake of a recent Danish film by Christian Tafdrup, so of course some people have seen it before. But especially-especially because this remake is an excellent, piercing horror movie in its own right. It’s an impressive, satisfying slow burn thriller that relies on intelligence, craftsmanship and complicated performances to reach its riveting finale.

Scoot McNairy and Mackenzie Davis star as Ben and Louise, a married couple whose daughter, Agnes (Alix West Lefler, “The Good Nurse”), has extreme anxiety. Also they just moved to London for his new job, which immediately fell apart, so now they’re untethered from anybody they know. Also also there’s something else going on that soured their marriage and made Ben feel deeply self-conscious as a husband, but we’ll get to that later in the film. The point is, things aren’t going great for Ben and Louise.

While on vacation, their family runs into Paddy (James McAvoy) and Ciara (Aisling Franciosi, “The Nightingale”), whose son Ant (Dan Hough) was born with a very small tongue and has trouble communicating. The kids hit it off, and Ben and Paddy hit it off, since Paddy is a confident husband and Ben longs for his power — and his approval. When Paddy invites their family to a giant farm in the middle of nowhere, Louise goes along with it, not so much because she likes their new friends but because she seems to be doing some kind of subconscious penance and just wants Ben to be happy.

Isolated from the rest of the world, Paddy’s confident charm isn’t a breath of fresh air anymore. It’s brash and overbearing. He crosses subtle and sometimes obvious boundaries. He’s uncomfortably physically forceful and sometimes publicly sexual. Ciara also weirdly insists on parenting Agnes the same as their son Ant, which is not her damn business, but also Ant is clearly struggling. He keeps trying to communicate something important to Agnes, and she can’t quite get the hint.

The audience knows they’re watching a horror movie — if only because the weirdly ubiquitous trailer for “Speak No Evil” has been playing in front of nearly every other movie for months now — so we’re all well ahead of the game. Something, our brilliant little minds are telling us, is afoot here. In a lesser film that could lead to impatience or frustration, but Watkins understands that the thrills that we’re all waiting for aren’t the real reason we’re here. They’ll come along and they’ll be exciting, but the reason the movie exists is to examine why Paddy is so alluring to some people, even when he scares the hell out of others.

The reason why Ben’s family has fallen into this particular trap is that Ben is an insecure and pathetic a-hole. He has two relationships in his life, and he has no control over either of them, since Louise is pulling away and Agnes has serious mental health issues. What’s worse is that his resentments have built up for so long that he actively wants to control Louise and Agnes. He wants to be respected, at least in public, and he wants to tell Agnes to cut the crap and grow up. And every time he fails at either of those things, he sighs in complete defeat.

When Paddy comes along and acts exactly the way Ben wants to act, Ben feels emboldened. He knows the dream of masculine power is attainable. Ironically, this just makes him subservient to Paddy and incapable of noticing that Paddy’s male charisma is nothing more than verbal, physical and sexual abuse delivered with a smile. Long before anyone is violently attacked in “Speak No Evil” the danger is pervasive and terrible. We’re watching a man get seduced by the idea of becoming a monster, and we’re watching Louise gradually realize that she wants absolutely none of this bulls–t.

Whether Ben takes the bait is for the audience to discover themselves, but it’s worth noting that the way it plays out is a little more complicated than it may first appear — and not necessarily interested in solving any of Ben’s whiny problems. The insidious intellect and cat-and-mouse games of “Speak No Evil” set the stage for a bang-up finale that absolutely slays, not just because it’s tense and tightly edited, but also because these characters have depth and complexity and because the film actually means something.

James Watkins hasn’t always been an elegant director. His biggest hit, the 2012 remake of “The Woman in Black,” is atmospheric but thuddingly blunt and overwhelmingly reliant on superficial, predictable jump scares. With “Speak No Evil,” however, he’s put together an elegant and smartly executed horror movie, a film about adult problems that preys on adult fears, made for audiences with an attention span and high standards.

And to pull that off he has a sextet of wonderful, unsettling performances. It helps that the characters are fascinatingly drawn, but the cast is still bringing it. Lefler and Hough are exceptional young actors. McAvoy once again proves that he’s never better than when he’s very, very bad, and Franciosi culls together an enigmatic portrayal of a woman whose real story we may never fully know. McNairy dives right into the realm of the pathetic, seemingly without fear, and Davis has so much baggage to sort through that it’s amazing she gets through any of it. These are subtle performances about big ideas, exploded by freaky events.

“Speak No Evil,” again, has lots of evil things to say. It’s subtle about many of them. But through canny direction and insidious, powerful acting it all comes through. It’s a creepy film about a charming creep and the wannabe creep who gets charmed, and the people trapped in that awful, decaying orbit.

“Speak No Evil” is now playing in theaters.

The post ‘Speak No Evil’ Review: Creepy James McAvoy Creeps Us Out in a Creepy, Creepy Remake appeared first on TheWrap .