‘Speak No Evil’ review: James McAvoy a wicked delight in horror remake

Movie review

James McAvoy is rather good at playing scary guys. If you’ve missed a few of his recent appearances, you might not think so — the actor so perfectly cast as the faun Mr. Tumnus in “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” years ago is also quite skilled at being sweetly otherworldly — but he demonstrates the skill yet again in “Speak No Evil,” the new psychological thriller from James Watkins (“The Woman in Black”). In it, he’s thoroughly terrifying as Paddy, the kind of man who at first just seems a bit larger than life, but is gradually revealed to be something much darker.

Based on the 2022 Danish film of the same title (but with a rather less disturbing ending), “Speak No Evil” occupies familiar thriller territory. Louise (Mackenzie Davis) and Ben (Scoot McNairy) are on vacation in Italy with their tween daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler); they’re Americans recently relocated to London, feeling anxious about having made few friends. Paddy (McAvoy) and Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), with their mute son Ant (Dan Hough), are at the same inn, and the families quickly bond. Back home, Louise and Ben accept an invitation to spend a weekend at Paddy and Ciara’s remote country home, with just a few misgivings — doesn’t it seem odd, Louise wonders, to go so far to see people they barely know? (Louise is, let me note right here, the smartest person in this movie; alas, even she doesn’t listen to herself.)

At any rate, off they go, and things quickly go awry, namely that Paddy and Ciara quickly demonstrate that they’re creepy as hell, and you wonder why Louise and Ben don’t scoop up Agnes and her stuffed bunny and get out of there immediately. They don’t, because if they did there’d be no movie, and we are soon reminded why it is a terrible idea to take remote vacation weekends with strangers, particularly oversharing strangers who disapprove of your values, provide guest rooms with weird stains on the sheets and have a kid who’s clearly dealing with some unspeakable trauma.

You watch “Speak No Evil” feeling as if you’ve seen it before, and you probably have; even if you don’t know the Danish version, it still feels a bit like every other scary-guy-in-a-scary-house thriller (and, like many of them, it takes rather too long to get to its violent final act). But that’s why we watch films like this, for that sensation of safely squirming from our comfortable seats — and for performances like McAvoy’s. With a smile like a demon elf — his teeth practically seem to be vibrating — and eyes that seem to pierce the house’s malevolent darkness, he’s wickedness personified. It’s a huge, pitched-to-the-balconies performance, and shivery fun to watch.