Blumhouse is taking viewers on a nightmarish vacation with the first trailer for the English remake of the 2022 Danish horror filmSpeak No Evil. Unveiled during Universal’s panel atCinemaCon, the footage introducesJames McAvoyandMackenzie Davisinto an initially mundane setting — a family trip with new friends — before twisting it into a psychological terror where kindness becomes questionable and nobody is as they initially seem.
TheoriginalSpeak No Evilfrom directorChristian Tafdrupemerged from the 2022 Sundance Film Festival with rave reviews for its uncomfortable and incriminating story. Like the original, the remake follows a married couple and their daughter Agnes who meet a similar family of a different background during a trip abroad and hit it off. Weeks later, the couple receives an invitation to stay for a weekend at the other family’s idyllic country home, where their initially sincere sweetness quickly becomes more sinister. As they enter into their new friends' lives, the couple is left uneasy by their behavior and begins considering leaving before their stay is meant to end. Before they can depart, however, their little trip spirals into pure hell as dark truths are unveiled, and they realize too late the danger they’re in.
Stepping into the shoes of Tafdrup and his brother,MadsTafdrup, for the remake is writer-directorJames Watkins. Best known for helming another horror thriller inEden Lakestarring apre-YellowstoneKelly ReillyandMichael Fassbender, he also took charge of the fan-favoriteBlack Mirrorepisode “Shut Up and Dance.” He has a strong core group to work with inSpeak No Evil, with McAvoy and Davis joined byScoot McNairyalongsideAlix West Lefler,Motaz Malhees,Aisling Franciosi, andKris Hitchen.
‘Speak No Evil’ Marks McAvoy’s Return to Horror
McAvoy and Davis make the perfect pair of stars to join forces on the horror thriller given their impressive resumes and experiences in the genre. Davis has enjoyed a varying career, including a standout role in aBlack Mirrorepisode of her own, “San Junipero,” but for McAvoy,Speak No Evilisa return to the spooky side of cinemaafter his previous brief stretch killing it as a horror star. He showed off his range as the dissociative identity disorder-diagnosed Kevin Crumb inM. Night Shyamalan’s acclaimed thrillerSplitin 2016 before going on to reprise the role inGlassin 2019. That same year, he’d take on an even bigger challenge as the adultBill Denbrough inIt: Chapter 2, further cementing his place in the genre. Together, they look to further the discomfort of the Danish hit and make it stand apart from its predecessor.
Speak No Evilwill terrorize theatersstarting on September 13. Check out the trailer below and stay tuned here at Collider for more news from CinemaCon, which runs through April 11.
Speak No Evil
Speak No Evil follows an American family who accepts an invitation to spend the weekend at a British family’s country estate. What starts as a delightful holiday quickly turns into a psychological nightmare as tensions and sinister intentions come to light.
