Fuck this movie. I mean, seriously, fuck this movie!
Seeing as this is a 2022 film, I’m not going to go too in depth with the plot, because revealing too much would most certainly ruin the experience. Not that there is any enjoyment to ruin here. Speak No Evil is a lot of things…but enjoyable is not one of them.
We all know those people that are weak, easily influenced or persuaded, a follower to the core, someone susceptible and suggestable to the point of annoyance. The last opinion they heard is the right one…until they hear another. They’re never the decision maker, but always looking for someone—anyone—to make the decision for them. A person who is willing to submit to the authority of others, no matter the topic or situation, simply because it avoids conflict or disagreement of any sort.
How bad could things get if such a person or persons came in contact with the type of people looking precisely for those weak individuals?
Pretty damn bad, as it turns out.
The basic plot of Speak No Evil is that a couple, Bjorn and Louise, and their daughter Agnes meet another family on vacation—Patrick, Karin, and their mute son Abel. Everyone seems to get along fine. Well, after returning home, Bjorn and Louise receive a letter from Patrick and Karin inviting them to pay them a visit some weekend at their home in Holland. Things get, um, very awkward when they at last decide to make the trip.
Let me just say, the music in this film is probably better at setting the mood than any I’ve ever experienced. Better than The Shining and Jaws in this regard. Even when there is nothing onscreen that seems menacing, the music tells you to watch the fuck out. Because of this, way before the bad actually starts happening, you as a viewer already feel uncomfortable.
And when I say uncomfortable…I don’t know if a movie has ever made me feel so uncomfortable. Kenzie Jennings—a talented author friend of mine—said Speak No Evil is the scariest movie of the year. Maybe it is. But it’s a different kind of scary. It’s not like The Blair Witch Project or Vacancy or The Autopsy of Jane Doe, which I believe is the scariest movie I’ve ever watched. Speak No Evil is unsettling from beginning to end, never giving you a moment to relax. It makes you disgusted with humanity, both with those who are doers of evil and those who do nothing to prevent it. The scariness in the film is the slow realization that everything horrible could have easily been avoided…but weakness, submissiveness decided to let it all happen.
If I could make a complaint, it’s that some of Bjorn’s decision making is so weak, so influenced by others, that it borders on absurdity. Are their really people out there that would let these things happen to their family? The terrifying thing…there probably is. Oh, also, one more complaint—this movie is completely unenjoyable. No desire whatsoever to watch again as long as I live. No thank you.
My wife completely agrees on this note. She immediately put on some splattery Rob Zombie exploitation when Speak No Evil ended; she needed a palate cleanser. We both did.
Fuck that ending. Fuck the whole thing.
PC3’s Horror and Exploitation Movie Scale of Awesomeness!
Gore - 5 (not much gore, but what there is is brutal)
Special Effects - 4
Nudity/Sexuality - 3 (there is both nudity and sex, but it is not at all fun)
Wow Factor - 8
Acting - 8
Fear Factor - 8
Story/Plot/Originality - 7
Cinematography/Atmosphere - 8
Sound/Music - 10
Fun Factor - 0 (that’s right, zero!)
Speak No Evil came away with a 61 PHEMSA, very good. It’s a well-executed film, doing exactly what it was intended to do: give you the most uncomfortable viewing experience of your life. It is not fun. You will feel like shit after watching it. If you still want to give it a shot, check it out on Shudder.