Speak No Evil (2022 film)

During their vacation in Tuscany, Bjørn and Louise, a Danish couple, and their daughter Agnes, meet Patrick and Karin, a Dutch couple, and their son Abel, who suffers from congenital aglossia and was born without a tongue. A few weeks later, Bjørn and Louise receive an invitation from the Dutch couple to visit their remote rural house in the Netherlands, which they accept. After eight hours of driving, the family arrives at their destination. During the first two days, Louise feels uncomfortable about the hosts' passive-aggressive behaviors, such as Patrick's ignorance about her vegetarianism, his abusive behavior towards Abel, and Karin's swearing.

The hosts invite their guests out for dinner, but Louise is concerned because the children are not coming and have to stay with Abel's babysitter, Muhajid. Her concerns are exacerbated at the dinner when Patrick challenges her vegetarianism, and the couple drunkenly make out in front of them. After manipulating Bjørn into paying for the dinner, Patrick repeatedly plays loud music while driving under the influence, upsetting Louise. He enters the bathroom while she is taking a shower, and later observes the couple having sex. When Agnes' calls to sleep next to her parents are ignored, Patrick takes her into their bed. After Louise finds Agnes sleeping on the bed next to a naked Patrick, she wakes her husband and the family leaves, only to turn back shortly thereafter, after Agnes realizes that her rabbit doll Ninus is missing.

Back at the house, they are confronted about their sudden departure by the hosts, who now act disappointed. Bjørn fails to be blunt, so Louise enumerates the things that made her uncomfortable. Patrick and Karin eventually convince their guests to stay. The women work in the yard, while the men buy groceries. On their way back, Bjørn and Patrick bond as the former attempts to explain how he often suppresses his emotions, compromising his true self. Patrick takes him to a beach where they practice screaming therapy. Later, when Louise cuts her finger in the kitchen, the couple discover that Patrick lied about being a doctor to impress them and is actually unemployed, as he doesn’t believe in actual work. After the dinner, the children perform a dance that they had practiced together; Patrick treats Abel abusively for his mistakes. He throws a mug, a gift from Bjørn and Louise, at the wall, and the couples argue over the apparent abuse.

That night, Bjørn discovers a cabin behind the house, and finds a collection of empty luggage and cameras inside. The cabin’s walls are covered with photographs of Patrick and Karin with other couples with young children on holidays. They suggest the Dutch couple are serial killers with a pattern of deceiving families in order to murder them and abduct their children. Bjørn realizes that he and his family are the couple's next victims. On his way to collect his family, Bjørn finds Abel's body drowned in the pool. They successfully escape, but Bjørn does not tell his wife about his discovery.

After their car breaks down, Bjørn is forced to leave and search for help in the vicinity, but returns to find his family inside Patrick's car, after Louise apparently called them for help, unaware of Bjørn's discovery. He obeys Patrick for the sake of his family's safety, remaining silent in the car. When Louise eventually becomes suspicious, Patrick orders her to remain silent and begins to beat Bjørn into submission. Patrick stops the car, Muhajid arrives and holds down Louise while Karin cuts off Agnes' tongue. Muhajid leaves with Agnes, and her parents are taken to a deserted road. Before the Danish couple are asked to get undressed, Bjørn asks them why they are doing this to them, to which Patrick calmly replies: "Because you let me."[6][7][8] Bjørn and Louise are then asked to get into a ditch, where they are subsequently stoned to death. Some time later, a mute Agnes forcibly plays the role of Patrick's and Karin’s daughter as the couple targets another vacationing family for their next murder.

Speak No Evil is the third feature film by Christian Tafdrup, who is mostly active as an actor, and his first genre film, in which he tries to combine the drama genre with social commentary and psychological horror elements.[9] He co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Mads Tafdrup. Jacob Jarek acted as producer, with the production costs estimated to be €2.8 million.[2] Filming had to be temporarily interrupted in Denmark and the Netherlands due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was mostly filmed in English,[9] and further shootings took place in the Netherlands and Italy.[10]

The project was presented at the Nordic Film Market as part of the Gothenburg Film Festival before it was completed in January 2021 and was strongly courted by distributors. The film rights were subsequently sold to Australia and New Zealand, the Benelux countries, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Hungary.[9][11]

The film received an invitation to the Midnight section[12] of the 38th Sundance Film Festival, which included: "horror and comedy works that defy genre classification", where it premiered on 22 January 2022.[13][14] The film was theatrically released in Denmark on 17 March 2022[15] by Nordisk Film and in the Netherlands on 21 July[3] by September Film.[16][17] It was released in the United States in select theaters on 9 September 2022 and through video on demand on 15 September 2022 by Shudder[15] and IFC Films.[3][18]

In April 2023, it was announced Blumhouse Productions was developing a remake of the same name, with James McAvoy attached to star and James Watkins writing and directing. The film is currently set to be theatrically released on 9 August 2024 by Universal Pictures.[30]

• Official website
• Speak No Evil at IMDb 
• Speak No Evil at AllMovie