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SPEAK NO EVIL (2024)

What You Need To Know:

SPEAK NO EVIL is an English language remake of a scary 2022 Danish movie. Having moved to London from America, Ben and Louise Dalton take their 11-year-old daughter, Agnes, on vacation to Italy. There, they meet a gregarious Englishman named Paddy, his wife, Ciara, and their mute son, nicknamed Ant. They agree to visit Paddy and his family at their rural farmhouse in Northern England. However, the farm’s more isolated than they thought. Also, it turns out Paddy has a much, much darker side to him.

SPEAK NO EVIL tells a scary story. It evolves into a violent, deadly game of survival. Ben and Louise Dalton display great courage as they defend both children from the rampaging villain and his wife. Sadly, SPEAK NO EVIL has some bloody and excessive violence, two disturbing scenes involving the young boy, about 25 “f” words, and three strong profanities. Also, the villain makes an implied sexual threat against the girl, and there’s a gratuitous outdoor sculpture or artwork of male genitals. So, the disturbing, negative content in SPEAK NO EVIL gravely and sorely undermines its positive content.

Content:

(BB, Ho, LLL, VVV, SS, NNN, AA, DD, MM):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:
Strong moral worldview as a married couple defends themselves and two children against a bloodthirsty, mercenary man and his wife, plus villain leers at another man for a joke;

Foul Language:
About 39 obscenities (about 25 “f” words), two strong profanities using the name of Jesus, one GD profanity, and 11 light profanities such as OMG;

Violence:
Some very strong bloody violence and a very strong disturbing example such as a villain’s henchman is killed with the claw end of a hammer, and the villain’s young son who’s been abused by his father (beaten and [SPOILER] it’s revealed the father cut off part of the boy’s tongue after the boy squealed to a past victimized family who was then murdered) bashes the father’s head multiple times with a brick until he’s dead, plus strong violence such as villain’s wife is shot dead, man jumps from a roof and hurts his ankle, a married couple and two children precariously escape down a slanted roof, villain’s wife and son have bruises and scars but wife helps husband trying to kill a family and steal their money, man throws a Molotov cocktail at the villain’s car, villains threaten family with guns, villain grabs girl and threatens to make her his new wife, villain throws son into pond, but another man jumps in and saves the boy from drowning, villain is slashes in the face with a box cutter, acidic household cleaning liquid is thrown into the wound, villains shoot through doors and windows, villain meanly bullies his young son for not dancing with his new friend to the villain’s satisfaction, and some fighting and struggling;

Sex:
No depicted sex but strong and light sexual content includes a woman goes under a tablecloth at dinner to pretend to pleasure her evil husband to show another married couple how freewheeling their sex life is, couples discuss marital sex at the dinner, it’s implied the evil husband took advantage of his wife when she was still a minor before their marriage, the villain makes an implied sexual threat against the 11-year-old girl (he threatens her with making her his new wife), the other married couple argue about the wife getting a nude text of another man, the villain kisses the neck of another man’s wife when he they hug goodbye, and villain leers at another man for a joke;

Nudity:
A lewd artwork on a hill shows an American Indian’s genitals, plus some upper male nudity, people swim in a rural lake in their underwear, and some swimsuits at an Italian resort;

Alcohol Use:
Alcohol use and two men appear to be drunk in one scene;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:
Brief tobacco smoking, and man passes around a marijuana cigarette; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:
Deceit, lying, stealing, light and strong bullying, and villain harps on honesty when he’s with other people, but he himself lies and keeps terrible secrets involving his terrible actions, which include mutilation of a child, serial murder, theft, and domestic abuse.

More Detail:

SPEAK NO EVIL is a remake of a 2022 Danish movie about a family visiting the isolated rural farm of another family they met on vacation, but the first family increasingly finds out there’s something terribly wrong with the father of the second family. SPEAK NO EVIL tells a scary story that evolves into a violent, deadly game of survival, but the movie has some bloody and excessive violence, two disturbing scenes involving a child, lots of strong foul language, a verbal threat of pedophilia, and a gratuitous image of a dirty nude artwork.

After moving to London for work reasons, Ben and Louise Dalton take their 11-year-old daughter, Agnes, on vacation in Italy. The family meets a gregarious Englishman named Paddy, Paddy’s wife, Ciara, and their mute son, nicknamed Ant. Paddy explains that Ant is mute because his tongue was not fully formed in the womb. Paddy and his family seem friendly enough, and the two families exchange addresses.

Back in London, Ben and Louise receive an invitation from Paddy to visit his family’s farm in rural Northern England. They agree, but the farm turns out to be more isolated than Paddy implied. Also, their daughter, Agnes, must share an attic room with the boy, Ant.

Slowly, it becomes clear that Paddy is somewhat of a bully. For example, although Louise is a vegetarian, he cajoles her into eating a slice of the roast goose he cooked for their arrival. Rudely, she spits it out when his back is turned.

At first, Paddy and his wife always find a somewhat reasonable excuse for Paddy’s behavior. It placates Ben, but Louise grows increasingly uncomfortable.

Then, however, it comes out that Ben and Louise have a troubled marriage. Louise is upset that she agreed to move the family to London for a new job Ben wanted. However, the job didn’t pan out, and now he’s either looking for work or looking for a better job. Meanwhile, Ben caught Louise getting a nude photo text on her phone from another man. Also, their daughter, Agnes, clings to a stuffed rabbit toy. Her behavior annoys and even angers Ben because he think she’s old enough now, being nearly 12, to get beyond such childish obsessions.

It becomes increasingly clear, however, that Paddy has a much darker side. In fact, Paddy’s son, Ant, tries to warn Agnes about his father’s darker side.

Eventually, things come to a head. The Dalton’s actually find themselves fighting for their lives against Paddy and even Paddy’s wife, who’s become co-dependent on Paddy, even though he apparently sometimes beats her.

SPEAK NO EVIL tells a scary, sometimes unpleasant story. When the true nature of Paddy’s dark side is revealed, the viewer’s allegiance to the Daltons is greatly enhanced. So, the movie’s third act is filled with lots of exciting tension and suspense. Thus, in the screening MOVIEGUIDE® attended, viewers clapped enthusiastically when the Daltons got the better of Paddy and his wife during the third act. Adding to that was fact that Ben and Louise Dalton are not only defending their own daughter throughout the third act, they’re also defending Paddy’s son. Louise and Ben’s courage in defending the two children is really inspiring. It gives the movie a strong moral worldview overall, despite the evil displayed by the young boy’s parents.

That said, the third act has some bloody and excessive violence. For instance, Paddy has a friend helping him in his attempts to kill the Daltons. However, he eventually gets a hammer claw piercing his skull before he can kill anyone. There’s also a bloody scene where Paddy’s son angrily and viciously attacks his father. The son’s attack is warranted on the one hand because of the evil physical abuse Paddy has been unleashing on his son over the years. On the other hand, the viciousness of the son’s attack is over-the-top and disturbing because it involves a child.

In addition, SPEAK NO EVIL also has about 25 “f” words and three strong profanities. There’s also a scene where Paddy threatens the Daltons’ young daughter with making her his new wife. His threat is real, because earlier in the movie it’s suggested that Paddy took advantage of his wife before they were married, when she was a minor, and he was an adult. Also, the families share a marijuana cigarette. Finally, while driving to Paddy and Ciara’s place, Ben and Louise see a lewd artwork on a hillside of an American Indian without any pants. The image is too graphic and explicit.

When combined together, the negative content in SPEAK NO EVIL ultimately goes too far. The disturbing, negative content in SPEAK NO EVIL gravely and sadly undermines the movie’s exciting, positive and courageous content and behavior.