Speak No Evil | Review & Score

About: A Danish family visits a Dutch family they met on a holiday. What was supposed to be an idyllic weekend slowly starts unraveling as the Danes try to stay polite in the face of unpleasantness.

Man, talk about an unsettling nightmare of a premise. SPEAK NO EVIL has exactly that.

You think you know whats happening halfway through and then it just does a complete 360 and by the end you're thinking "what in the actual fucking hell am I watching?". Speak No Evil has one of the most unsettling and brutal finale scenes that I have ever seen on film.

Director Christian Tafdrup did not hold back on this film and each scene you're begging for a breather. The amount of suspense, tension, drama, thrills does not slow down and the sense of dread on the overall product is something to salivate at if you're a horror and suspense fanatic.

What Tafdrup accomplished here is something that doesn't get done often in horror cinema. He makes you feel each scene as if you're living in the nightmare this poor Danish family is living through (or about to live through). It's something I look for in a true psychological piece. So well done. I felt every bit of it.

The acting from the four leads is exceptional. Even if the subject matter or premise isn't quite up to fancy for you for some reason, you have to conclude that the performances in Speak No Evil speak so much volume in the end. Each actor felt authentic and the two antagonists are frightening to a natural detail.

If you're looking for special effects, Speak No Evil isn't your cup of tea, and rightfully so. This movie requires nothing but dread, uncomfortable and unsettling. With a touch of heartbreak. There's a few scenes throughout that just made me so sick and really fucked with my psyche all night long. Unfortunately, that's a good thing.

Like I said earlier, the finale was brilliant and will have a lot of emotions coming from you. If you're truly a sensitive person, you're going to have a rough go at this. It speaks very highly of itself and by the credits, you'll feel a sense of discomfort that you can't imagine. Especially going into such a soft spoken, friendly start. It plays off so well and the payoff is brutally courageous.

Speak No Evil is not for the faint of heart. It's an uncomfortable viewing experience that not even the toughest people can get through. It's gritty storytelling at its finest. Buckle up.

4.5/5