Whenever you go on vacation always be wary of who you interact with, because Director James Watkins Speak No Evil lays out what could go wrong if you meet the wrong people.

 

Our story starts with mother Louise (Mackenzie Davis), father Ben (Scoot McNairy), and daughter Agnes Dalton (Alix West Lefler) on vacation. While interacting with different couples and families staying at their hotel, they are introduced to a doctor named Paddy (James McAvoy), his wife Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), and son Ant (Dan Hough). For the rest of the trip both families hang out with each other, and both have such a great time that Paddy invites Ben’s family to their farmhouse for a weekend getaway. Ben, who has been completely enthralled with Paddy, wants to go to get his mind off an unsuccessful job search, struggles with his wife who had an affair, and dealing with his daughter’s severe anxiety issues. So, they make the trip to Paddy’s home for what should be a relaxing time. Instead, it will test the family’s strength to make it out alive.

 

That’s really all I can say about the plot of this film unless you want spoilers. Most of the advertising did convey that Paddy isn’t who you think he is and that the son, Ant, does not have a tongue. That is kind of a bummer that those were given away in the promotions, but the movie must sell tickets. Fortunately, it didn’t spoil the whole plot of the film and why this is all happening to this one family. Overall, I thought this was a well-done horror and thriller film. The performances all around were well done, especially by James McAvoy who always brings it with these horror flicks. This film does a good job feeding on your anxiety which is an underlying theme. The movie did drag a bit in the middle, and you were just waiting for the other shoe to fall at any moment. It did, but not until the very end. This drag kind of took me out of the film, but once it got to the climax I was sucked back into the action. 

 

All in all, if you are a horror enthusiast go see this in theaters at least once to get the full experience. It is perfect timing for the upcoming Halloween season, and you’ll get some nice jump scares while you’re riddled with anxiety.

Rating: 3.9 out of 5