“Speak No Evil”: James McAvoy is the worst presenter of all time in the horror remake
In “Speak No Evil,” two families, after meeting on vacation in Italy, meet for a trip to the English countryside that goes completely wrong.
Spoiler alert! This story contains major plot points and the ending of Speak No Evil (in theaters now), so beware if you haven’t seen the film.
The 2022 Danish horror film Speak No Evil has one of the darkest film endings in recent history. However, the remake does not follow the same path and instead creates a different fate for its charmingly sinister antagonist.
In the new film by screenwriter and director James Watkins, Ben (Scoot McNairy) and Louise (Mackenzie Davis) are an American couple who live in London with their daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler) and meet new holiday friends on a trip to Italy. The cheeky but fun-loving Paddy (James McAvoy) invites them, along with his wife Ciara (Aisling Franciosi) and his mute son Ant (Dan Hough), to a relaxing short break at his family home in the British countryside.
Things get out of hand almost as soon as the visitors arrive. Paddy seems nice, but there are warning signs, like when he is unnecessarily cruel to his son. Louise wants to leave, but politeness keeps her family there. Ant tries to signal that something is wrong, but since he has no tongue, the boy is unable to issue a warning. Instead, he is able to take Agnes aside and show her a photo album of families that Paddy brought there and then killed, including Ant’s own.
Paddy eventually reveals his intentions, taking them hostage at gunpoint and forcing Ben and Louise to wire him money, but they break free and try to survive while Paddy and Ciara chase them through the house. Ciara falls off a ladder, breaks her neck and dies, and Paddy’s plans are also foiled: Ant smashes his head by repeatedly hitting him with a large rock, then leaves with Ben, Louise and Agnes.
The film largely follows the same terrain as the original Evil, with the exception of the finale: In the Danish film, the visitors flee the country house but are stopped by the villains. Mother and father are dragged from their car, thrown into a ditch and stoned to death. And Agnes has her tongue cut out before she becomes the “daughter” of the villains, who are looking for another family to punish.
McAvoy says the reboot is “definitely” a different experience and that the ending of Watkins’ film is best suited to these characters and the narrative.
“Patty’s views, attitudes and actions are so toxic at times that I think if the film takes his side, if the film lets him win, then it almost validates his views,” McAvoy explains. “The film has to judge him. And I’m not sure the original film dealt with the same issue as strongly as this one does.”
Besides, he adds, “the original film wasn’t something that 90% of the moviegoing public wanted to see, and they’re not going to see it. So what’s the problem with bringing this story to a new audience?”
McAvoy admits he didn’t see the first Evil movie before filming the new one. (He also only managed 45 seconds of the trailer.) “I wanted it to be my version of it,” says the Scottish actor, who watched the first film after filming wrapped. “I really enjoyed it. But I was so glad I wasn’t aware of all of that at the same time.”
He also has a perspective on remakes, influenced by years of classical theater.
“When I do ‘Macbeth,’ I’m not doing a remake of ‘Macbeth.’ I’m literally remaking it for the ten hundred thousandth time, but we’re not calling it a remake,” McAvoy says. “Of course there are people in the audience who have seen it before, but I’m doing it for the first time and I’m doing it for people who I assume have never seen it before.”
“So we’re not actually doing anything new. If you do something again, you’re doing it new.”
