Speak No Evil, is it a predictable film?
Maybe I’ve seen way too many dark/thriller movies.
Speak No Evil (2022) is a slow-burn light horror film filled with tension with and ending that packs a punch. The director bases his film on his own experience of travelling and meeting strangers on his travels. This notion is then amplified onto a family that finds themselves in an unusual situation once returning from their holiday. In an interview, he states that the film “combine[s] a social satire and family drama with conventions of the horror genre” (Feldberg & Tafdrup, 2022.) This is a horror film grounded in reality and like my previous article on We’re All Going To the World Fair (2021) shows sometimes these can be scarier than a supernatural ghost. This article will debate if this film is predictable with a short review at the end.
The plot of the film is surprisingly simple. We follow a family vacation that stumble across another family. The family get along and once back an invitation arrives at their door inviting them to visit. After reluctantly agreeing, their stay becomes uncomfortable as the family they are visiting is not as they once seemed. With tension rising it leads to a final climax that certainly packs a punch.
Christain Tafdrup does confirm this but there is a clear inspiration for Michael Haneke’s film: Funny Games (1997.) I mentioned this in my tweet review but the main connection is that the horror is more grounded in reality. There are parts of these films that are far-fetched but incredibly impactful in how they showcase a more realistic horror. Movie Web describes horror in the film as not; “the fear we are used to when referring to horror; this is much more mundane, almost normal” (Furzan,2023.) This statement surmises my argument and although there is plenty of films that aim to severely scare you these type of film like to get under your skin. No supernatural elements or jumpscares just the ‘normal’ everyday people in society.
The only other connection is the removal of the happy ending trope. Both these films have you rooting for the troubled family with every moment of escape failing. When looking at Speak No Evil, the film messes with the audience with both chances failing massively. You are expecting a dramatic climax and a satisfactory ending for the family but we have become used to films sorting themselves out. I understand in horror, this can be different though when looking at a recent example, M3gan (2022) for instance the film sorts itself out (somewhat.)
Horror movies do have their own trope of the fake happy ending, where you think it will work out or it's all over but then in a twist, something happens and it goes in another direction. Horror Obsessive argues that in: “films’ triumphant endings, most people aren’t seeking out uplifting, cheerful finales when they put on a horror film” (Vignaud,2021.) This applies to Speak No Evil but is similar to Funny games, as it not only fakes out the audiences at the end but throughout the film thus meaning many can assume an escape. This is where people may not find the film predictable as some expect a somewhat happy resolution but it goes along with the fake ending trope.
I watched a brilliant interview where the director talked in detail about the dramatics of some moments. The director states: “what really worked for us was to think about mythology.. an opera…greek drama.” He wants to elevate the film and for this to be dramatic and for me, this is shown in the music throughout. At each pivotal moment, the soundtrack is overwhelmingly loud and alerts the audience of the warning signs. It was interesting hearing the director discusses his avoidance of not being the perfect realistic movie as he enjoyed the freedoms horror movies have. He has a point as the elements that are talked about are moments in the story that are exaggerated. He blends realistic horror with elements such as looking at evilness, the music and the final chapter, which are more exaggerated to turn this into a full horror and more interesting instead of as claimed a “couples comedy.”
When looking at factors that make this movie predictable, like every movie it leaves clues that will eventually come back around. I am not stating every film is predictable for example horror movies like Old (2021) and Barbarian (2022)both for different reasons are hard to know what is going to happen. Secondly, this can be in connection with the previous statement that we are more likely going to get somewhat of a happy ending. Lastly, is also the argument that the more you watch, the more you can easily predict what is going to happen.
Although, to me, the biggest factor was the light foreshadowing in the film. The two main scenes which I worked out were the child's tongue and the dinner table. Looking at the child's tongue we get info that the boy suffers from a condition leading to his tongue being short. This was not adding up for me and immediately knew the girl's tongue was getting cut off so she can hardly share with people what happened. When looking at the dinner table scene, we find the two families sitting eating with a mother trying to control the visitor's child. She is successful in doing this and for me was the final element of being like assured they are taking that child away from them. These two elements for me made this film predictable. I am not saying the ending did not pack a punch but I knew the main factors that were about to happen.
Giving this a short review; I enjoyed this film and days after seeing it, it still slightly lingers in the back of my mind. I found the acting to be good, and the cinematography to be the biggest standout. I don't believe I enjoyed it compared to others but I think some will find this more shocking and intense than I did. It leaves many questions answered which I dislike as the entire film just feels like it needs one more look over. I would recommend this film for people that love light-on horror but dark chilling movies.
To conclude, Speak No evil is more chilling than scary to me. It's a film that packs a punch at the end which most will be shocked by and a few will see somewhat coming. To conclude the debate, I understand why some people found it more shocking than me but I hope this article has highlighted both sides quickly (did not want this article to be too long.) In the end, give this a watch on Shudder now.
References:
Barbarian (2022). USA: 20th Century Pictures.
Federico Furzan. (2023). The Unspeakable Horror of Speak No Evil, Explained. Available from: https://movieweb.com/speak-no-evil-horror/. [Accessed: 6/2/2023].
Funny Games. [Film] (1997). Austria: Wega Film.
Isaac Feldberg & Christain Tafdrup. (2022). I’m Afraid of Other People and Myself: Christian Tafdrup on Speak No Evil. Available from: https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/speak-no-evil-christrian-tafdrup-shudder-interview-2022. [Accessed: 1/2/2023].
M3gan [Film] (2022). USA: Universal Productions .
Old [Film] (2021). USA: Universal Pictures.
River Vignaud. (2021). Don’t Get Your Hopes Up: The Evolution Of The Fake Happy Ending In Horror. Available from: https://horrorobsessive.com/2021/05/03/dont-get-your-hopes-up-the-evolution-of-the-fake-happy-ending-in-horror/. [Accessed: 6/2/2023].
Speak No Evil [Film] (2022). Denmark: Profile Pictures.
We’re All Going to the Wolds Fair (2021). USA: Utopia.