It’s a great time for horror fans at the moment, with several bone-chillers currently showing at Cineworld cinemas, and more to come in the next few weeks. Right now, you can watch Chris Weitz’s terrifying AI chiller AfRaid, Fede Alvarez’s heart-thumping Alien: Romulus, as well as Zoë Kravitz’s sinister mystery Blink Twice, while scary sequel Smile 2 comes grinning onto the big screen on 18 October.
Another massive horror release, Speak No Evil, is coming to Cineworld on 12 September. One of the most hotly anticipated films of the year, this psychological thriller was written and directed by James Watkins, with James McAvoy playing the main baddie. But what else do you need to know about this new American movie? Here are some tantalising titbits to whet your whistle…
It has a nightmarish plot
Imagine the scenario: you’re enjoying a family holiday in a foreign country when you meet a friendly family who invite you to stay at their home in the British countryside. Sound good? Well, for one American couple and their two kids, it turns out to be very, very bad as the hosts slowly reveal themselves to be anything but friendly. We won’t give too much away, but suffice to say that Speak No Evil fizzes with tension from start to finish, and James McAvoy as the ultra-masculine British father is particularly terrifying.
The director has previous when it comes to horror
Speak No Evil was directed by British filmmaker James Watkins, who has a pretty impressive CV when it comes to horror flicks. After writing the 2007 psychological chiller Gone – which, by the way, has a plot that’s not too dissimilar to this latest release – he made his directorial debut with the acclaimed Eden Lake, which was named Best Horror Film at the 2009 Empire Awards. That same year, Watkins wrote horror sequel The Descent Part 2, before directing Daniel Radcliffe in 2012 thriller The Woman in Black. So, it’s fair to say that he’s earned his stripes in the genre.
It's a remake of a Danish film from 2022
As is the case with a lot of movies these days, Speak No Evil is a remake – coming just two years after the release of a Danish film with the same name. Directed by Christian Tafdrup, it’s been described as a “social satire with razor-sharp teeth”. While the two films have many similarities, though, they’re not identical: “There’ll be people that see the original movie and go, ‘Why hasn’t he remade that movie? Why hasn’t he made this incredibly punchy, unrelenting ending?'” Watkins told SFX magazine. “But I would argue, with my characters and their journey, I’m following through their journey in terms of agency and how they would react. What I’ve taken from Christian’s film is the satire, the exploration of the social rules, and how we react.”
It was made by Blumhouse Productions
Whenever you see the Blumhouse logo at the start of a film, you know you’re in for a visceral treat. The US production company has made some of the most memorable horror films of the past couple of decades, including Paranormal Activity (2009), Insidious (2011), The Purge (2013), Halloween (2018), Don’t Let Go (2019), The Invisible Man (2020) and The Black Phone (2022). So, when we saw that Blumhouse was behind Speak No Evil, we were confident that it was going to be a thrill ride. We weren’t wrong!
James McAvoy has compared his character to Andrew Tate
When it came to inspiration for his character, Paddy, James McAvoy could’ve drawn upon any number of fearsome miscreants from the horror canon. But the Scottish actor chose instead to take his cue from a controversial real-life figure. “The thing I thought I could exploit in the character was, he thinks he’s a bit of a [expletive] West Country Andrew Tate,” McAvoy told Empire. “He’s like, ‘I’m going to teach you what it’s like to be a man again.’ But there’s a sort of polite face on it that isn’t quite Andrew Tate, enough of a sheen of, ‘I’m not one of those guys.’ [Paddy’s] challenging you, ‘Do you have a big enough [expletive] to have a drink with me?’. Or ‘I’m sorry, this is too much for you because you’re not real enough.’”
It’s been described as a “rollercoaster ride”
A good horror film will provoke all kinds of emotions in its audience, from fear and tension to intrigue and surprise. And James Watkins is confident he’s found exactly the right formula with Speak No Evil. “People need fun… Fun in inverted commas,” added Watkins, he told SFX magazine. “I’ve sat with audiences and people come out of this absolutely rinsed, like you would on a great rollercoaster ride. I wanted to make a film that is tense and has people screaming at the screen.” Job done.
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