Speak No Evil (Shudder) Will Shock You (Fantasia Fest)
Talk after Speak No Evil’s film festival run was overwhelmingly positive. A psychological horror movie that shies away from trying to convince you of its ghosts or hallucinations. Instead, director and writer Christian Tafdrup takes us back to more traditional roots where it gets inside your head via alternative measures. In a pleasant blend of English, Dutch, and Danish dialogue Mads and Christian Tafdrup want you to really get to know two families.
One family is a Danish Dad named Bjørn, a mother Louise, and a daughter Agnes happily enjoying a vacation. They meet and connect with a Dutch trio Karin, Patrick, and Abel. They dine together, laugh, and simply enjoy the similarities they have between them. Then everyone returns home. After a quick glimpse into Louise and Bjørn’s life at home, their friends, and their lifestyle there are hints of a life lived unfulfilled. But there is nothing pointedly wrong with anything they have going on. And then a postcard arrives.
Speak No Evil is one of those titles that you will either love or hate. I must confess I had to sit awhile and decide which side of the fence I was on. The horror movie is a solid rendition of everything I like. Great performances underpin exceptional cinematography. The type that goes to great lengths to show you small details that allude to a bigger picture. A sense of dread creeps up due to the perfectly timed bassy throbs that highlight danger despite anything superficially scary going on. With a run-time of 97 minutes, nothing ever outstays its welcome and it’s easy to say I was on tenterhooks almost the whole time. I berated the decision-making on behalf of Bjørn and Louise. This is not a new experience as a horror-loving cinephile though.
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Is This Horror Movie Scary?
This time, the ending of Speak No Evil was where everything came undone for me. I hated it. I didn’t dislike it because it was shocking or bloody or pushed the envelope in what mainstream cinema lovers might be able to handle (although it was all of those things.) The hatred came because the characters let me down. The horror topes rose with an almighty hand and dropped stupidity and mediocrity in front of my eyes. If you want to know what happened at the end of Speak No Evil I have included a spoiler section at the end.
But is that a good enough reason for me to pan the whole film, I wondered? I scoured the internet and found a few interviews with the director who basically said his intention was to make me hate it. Hats off to you sir. And to be honest, despite hating the ending it will probably be one of the most memorable climaxes of a horror movie I will see for some time.
Speak No Evil is rated
4 the ending isn’t the whole movie out of 5
Ending Explained For Speak No Evil Movie?
What Happens at the End of Speak No Evil?
At the end of the film after Bjørn has ample opportunity to get away from Karin and Patrik (I mean who would stay after they put Agnes in their bed?) Bjørn discovers the attic with the photos of families Karin and Patrick have done this to before. Karin and Patrik have been killing parents and swapping out children for a while.
Who Dies in Speak No Evil?
As Bjørn and Louise leave in the middle of the night, their car gets a flat tire. Bjørn leaves his family in the car by themselves without saying anything about the dangers they are facing. He knows Patrik killed Abel as he saw the boy floating in the spa when he went to investigate. While Louise and Agnes wait, Patrik, who has been following at a steady distance behind them the whole time approaches the car. By the time Bjørn returns, Karin is in the back seat. Bjørn fails to drive off when Patrik leaves the keys in the ignition to urinate on the side of the road and after they drive a short while, they pull over and the man hired to babysit the children in earlier scenes opens the car door. While Karin chokes Louis into submission he cuts off Agnes’s tongue and kidnaps her.
The couples arrive at a quarry and Patrik instructs the pair to undress. They do not fight or try to run. They are ordered into the bottom of the quarry and although we don’t see Patrik and Karin, large rocks begin to hail down on the naked pair. Both die in the quarry. We are shown moments later by Agnes sitting solemnly in the back of a car as it drives away.
Where to Watch Speak No Evil
Speak No Evil will be available on the streaming platform Shudder from Thursday, September 15, 2022.
Speak No Evil is written and directed by Christian Tafdrup (A Horrible Woman.) Christian Tafdrup is joined by his brother Mads Tafdrup as co-writer. The title played at the Goteborg Film Festival 2022, the Seattle International Film Festival 2022, the Chicago Critics Film Festival, the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival as well as the Fantasia International Film Festival.
Speak No Evil cast includes Morten Burian and Sidsel Siem Koch as the Danish couple, Bjørn and Louise, as well as Fedja van Huêt and Karina Smulders as the Dutch couple, Patrick and Karin.
Produced by Profile Pictures’ producer Jacob Jarek (Holy Spider, Rams), in co-production with Oak Motion Pictures in the Netherlands.
