Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Speak No Evil review says James McAvoy is gleefully chilling on this weekend in hell. 

Screenshot

As you may know, I’m not a big fan of horror movies. If I can get someone else to review them for me I will, because I can’t get those images out of my head, I have nightmares, and they make me afraid to drive home alone from the screening. Yes, I’m a wimp.

But Speak No Evil is different. I actually enjoyed it, perhaps because it is mostly a suspense film, rather than an all out blood fest, and has a little subtle, creepy comedy thrown in for good measure.

I also found that, unlike most horror movies, the characters are dimensional and developed. They feel like multi-layered people I know, or would like to know…up to a point.

Speak No Evil review — what can be said

James McAvoy is menacingly jolly as Paddy, a father who is spending a vacation in Italy with his wife and young son, who can’t speak. They bond with another family staying in the same hotel – An American couple that has moved to London with their young daughter. 

They have such a great time together that Paddy extends an invite to the Americans to come and spend a weekend at his remote farm in the English countryside.

What could go wrong?

To elaborate on the plot any more would ruin the suspense, and let’s just say it’s drawn out slowly and deliciously. Guessing how, why and when that plot will thicken is half the fun.

This is a British remake of a popular and well done Danish film, and English director James Watkins seems to have excelled at making it his own.

He’s also done an excellent job of casting — a very buff, gleeful and duplicitous McAvoy is superb, while   Skoot McNairy and Mackenzie Davis (who were so remarkable in Halt and Catch Fire) are sublime as an uptight and precarious couple on the verge.

One of the strengths of Speak No Evil is that there are no forced scenarios where fictitious characters like demons, monsters, aliens or ghosts are involved. Instead, these are crazy humans. I could easily see this type of thing happening to me.

As a matter of fact, it almost has happened to me—my husband and I like to make friends when we travel, and narrowly missed a confrontation with the mob or the IRS (or both) when we skipped a visit to our new found friends’ home at the last minute. But that’s a story for another day.

Anyway, because it felt real and not mythical, I found Speak No Evil much more compelling.

Rated R

1 Hour 50 Minutes

If this Speak No Evil review tempts you to make a trip the the cineplex, get times and tickets at Fandango.com.

Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Speak No Evil review says James McAvoy is gleefully chilling on this weekend in hell.