Speak No Evil Movie Review: Just a few weeks ago, Blumhouse Productions made their first horror film, Afraid, in which artificial intelligence is the ghost. This week, Jason Blum and his production house too take the fear associated with something normal and turn it into a horror film. However, unlike the previous attempt, they don’t turn the psychological horror into something borderline supernatural, and stick to the tunes of a sound escape thriller, like Jordan Peele’s 2017 success story, Get Out.
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Exit to parenting
Like that film, horror and thrills arise from a cultural clash between guests and hosts on a weekend getaway. In that case, they were white future in-laws and black future son-in-law. Given Jordan’s direction, Get Out was far more impactful and politically urgent. Speak No Evil, on the other hand, is more grounded and universal. Both guests and hosts are white families – but they’re divided over their lifestyle and parenting choices.
The Daltons are an ambitious, dysfunctional American family struggling to make ends meet in London, while Paddy and Ciara prefer to live in the remote countryside, closer to nature and the Darwinian concept of the food chain. Unlike the Daltons who pamper their daughter Agnes and give her false hopes, Paddy (James McAvoy) and Ciara spare no expense in raising their disabled son Ant. They believe in facing hardships just like the animals they hunt, and keeping it real just like the weeds that surround their home.
There is no right way
As they say, there’s no rule book for parenting. Paddy and Ciara urge their guests to be more honest about their feelings – hurt, disappointment, fear, worry, shame, guilt and anger – towards their daughter, just as they are towards their son. Paddy also argues with Louise Dalton that even though she’s vegan because she supports sustainability, she still eats fish. Not that it’s explicitly stated, but many vegetarians or vegans aren’t fighting for fish rights like they fight for animal rights, simply because fish remain invisible under the sea and have no voice – literally.
The lack of a voice is a character trait in Speak No Evil. Whether it’s the Daltons who suffer silently in their corners or the situation of Ant who cannot speak due to a naturally short tongue, the suppression of a voice feels like a constant threat. But are Paddy and Ciara, who never miss a chance to voice their opinions or objections, really the most orderly, free spirits? Or are they also hiding something under their ornate cover? For example, while Paddy espouses a carbon-neutral lifestyle, how come he drives a fancy car (quite chaotically)?
The horrors of hypocrisy
The hypocrisy extends to the Daltons too – in their pursuit to protect their daughter, they often isolate her. Dolls, which have been grossly exploited as supernatural devices in horror films, are a source of comfort for Agnes, who finds relief from her parents’ unhappy marriage in her animal-shaped dolls. Despite their clashing parenting styles, Paddy and Ciara’s struggle begins to draw you closer. You understand their point of view, but not their harsh behaviour. They have had a tough childhood and upbringing themselves – but does that justify their own aggressive parenting style?
James McAvoy is slowly becoming a horror veteran after M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass and Split, and Andy Muschietti’s It: Chapter Two. In Speak No Evil, his character is terrific – a raised eyebrow from an earlier scene or a few seconds’ long stare from a previous sequence makes you cringe when he starts to unravel. His muscular silhouette and his alpha streak combined with the other man’s timid demeanor make him even more dangerous.
Facing their fears as a family helps Dalton learn to think quickly, become resourceful, and use unfamiliar settings to his advantage. We know screentime doesn’t really help a child grow up, but a deep-breathing tutorial device comes in quite handy for Dalton during his escape. Likewise, his ability to think like predators comes in handy. One fact that both parents and predators often forget is how much their children and prey subconsciously learn from them – only to use it to rebel against them even more.