Speak No Evil
IF there's any actor who in recent memory has honed to chilling perfection the art of playing a psychotic lunatic tittering on the edge of sanity it's James McEvoy.
We've shuddered in the past at his portrayal as a policeman with bipolar disorder in Filth, and witnessed him grapple with over 20 different personalities in M. Night Shyamalan's Split, and its sequel, Glass.
Speak No Evil sees McAvoy bring psychosis to another alarming level and this time his commanding and imposing magnificence will make you cringe and wince like never before.
Inspired by a devious little Danish film of the same name, Eden Lake director James Watkins savours every single twisted conflict in this truly uncomfortable thriller that sees an unassuming American family strike up a holiday friendship with an intense but jovial British family.
When Yanks Ben and Louise first meet Paddy and Ciara, they're innocently exploring sun-kissed Europe with their young daughter. Paddy explains he's a doctor and his family are enjoying some much needed sunshine and it's not long before small talk develops into an affectionate camaraderie between both couples, and the once wary strangers are now enjoying intimate dinners together.
Becoming fast friends, Paddy invites his new friends to visit them back in their rural home in the UK and the Americans find the gesture hard to resist. But once inside Paddy and Ciara's remote and entrenched home in the middle of nowhere, Paddy's friendly façade begins to slip and crumble before his guests very eyes.
Speak No Evil is a masterstroke in tension. You know what's coming, you know it's a bad idea for the well-meaning Americans to entrust so easily the affections of this eerily friendly British couple, but you just can't help but peer on at the horror as it unfolds through the gaps in your fingers.
It'll be no surprise to the horror fans out there that Blumhouse is behind this creepy remake of the more subtle Danish original, and rest assured the suspense and tension in this version is far more intense and unsettling.
Director James Watkins lays the early foundations for the horror to unravel around the midway point, drip-feeding occasional little white lies and anomalies into the story, and he unleashes hell when Paddy's lies and darker motivations can be suppressed no longer.
While the entire cast are generally all on top form and deliver the believable performances required to make these normal people suitably abnormal, James McAvoy is the keystone that holds this whole film together.
Sharp, witty and chatty one moment, slipping into an intense, rumbling brood or violent outlash the next, McAvoy will make your skin crawl.
