Roughly halfway through the new thriller Speak No Evil, Ben Dalton (Scoot McNairy) finds himself foxhunting in the British countryside with his new best friend, Paddy (James McAvoy), who’s giving him an impromptu lesson on the importance of predator control.
When Ben sees a fox in his crosshairs, he finds himself unable to pull the trigger. A little embarrassed, Ben takes comfort in Paddy’s assurances that the hunt is always more enjoyable than the kill.
By this point in the film, it’s pretty obvious to everyone except Ben, and possibly his wife, Louise (Mackenzie Davis), that Paddy plans to murder Ben and his family. Taking Ben foxhunting is just part of the hunt.
Based on previews alone, this remake of a 2022 Danish film might appear to be just another interchangeable horror movie featuring a creepy child who’s going to turn out to be possessed, a ghost, or one who sees dead people.
But from its opening scenes, it’s quickly apparent that Speak No Evil offers something different.
When we first meet Ben and his family on their Italian vacation, it’s easy to see Ben is a nonconfrontational model of beta masculinity. Louise, younger and more attractive, isn’t quite domineering but doesn’t let Ben have as much fun as he’d like. Moreover, she can be a little emasculating, casually joking with virtual strangers about how little she has sex with him and engaging in a flirtatious relationship with another father at the school of their preteen daughter, Agnes.
When Ben meets Paddy, a funny, fun-loving alpha with a devil-may-care attitude and a marriage still burning with passion, it’s practically love at first sight.
Over the remainder of the first act, Paddy befriends Ben. He and his wife provide better company than another European couple Ben and Louise find irritatingly dull but are too polite to shake. And Agnes and Paddy’s nonverbal son, Ant, who’s said to have a congenital abnormality afflicting his tongue, hit it off too. Later, when Ben receives an invitation to bring his family to join Paddy and his clan at their rustic estate, Ben, of course, accepts.
From there, the film begins to morph from low-key European dramedy into a more obvious psychological thriller along the lines of Cape Fear with a dash of Fight Club and an obligatory homage to The Shining.
In the predator’s lair, things about Paddy and his family begin to appear increasingly off, thanks to suspicious stains, late-night screaming fits, and hints of abuse. Paddy and his wife also start putting Ben and Louise into increasingly awkward situations in which they feel pressured to act against their own values or better judgment so as not to offend.
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Of course, questionable decisions add up. By the film’s closing act, Ben, his family, and Ant, whom, let’s say, Paddy acquired from a previous couple, are fighting for their survival, a task for which Ben is the least suited. Forced to protect his family, Ben makes a solid effort but still has trouble pulling the trigger — even when he sees the fox in his crosshairs.
Despite Ben’s constant humiliation and Paddy being revealed to have done some pretty horrible things, Speak No Evil never feels like it’s lecturing its audience about toxic masculinity. If anything, it shows that Paddy is what you get when there aren’t enough real men to engage in predator control.
Daniel Nuccio is a Ph.D. student in biology and a regular contributor to the College Fix and the Brownstone Institute.