WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Speak No Evil (2022).
summary
The 2024 remake of Speak No Evil, starring James McAvoy, was less impactful when its trailer revealed major plot spoilers. The cultural rift between a Danish and a Dutch family was a key element in the original film, but has been replaced in the remake. The trend of revealing full plotlines in horror movie trailers has been seen before with Alien: Romulus, Immaculate, and Abigail.
The 2024 remake of Speak No Evil may be good with James McAvoy as the star, but the horror movie has already fallen victim to 2024’s worst genre trends. 2022’s Speak No Evil is a dark European horror film that garnered a shock response and generally positive reviews upon its release. The story of Speak No Evil revolves around a Danish family who befriends a Dutch family while on vacation in Italy, and then visits them. The first half of Speak No Evil plays out like a Ruben Östlund film, building tension by foregrounding awkward social awkwardness.
But long before Speak No Evil’s tragic ending, it becomes clear that there is more than just a cultural difference between the two families. The Dutch couple are hiding something very sinister, but the ridiculously over-the-top politeness of the film’s Danish heroes stops anyone from questioning their increasingly dire situation. With a comically dark ending that could have been borrowed from Funny Games, Nothing Bad Can Happen, or Borgman, Speak No Evil leans into the gruesome tendencies of European horror. Nevertheless, the popularity of the original film led to an English-language remake, which soon faced its own problems.
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The 2024 remake of Speak No Evil won’t be able to recreate the original film’s shocking ending, but it will be equally hard to replace the infamous climax.
Speak No Evil 2024 trailer reveals full story
The remake of the popular 2022 horror movie reveals spoilers for the original story
The 2024 Speak No Evil remake cast James McAvoy in the role of the villain father, moved the film’s setting to England, and changed the Danish family to American tourists. All these changes led to the question of whether James McAvoy’s Speak No Evil remake would be successful, since the original film essentially focused on the cultural discord between Danish and Dutch customs. This relatively minor issue faded into the background when the trailer for the Speak No Evil remake spoiled the entire story of the film. This made the remake much less interesting, but it’s becoming increasingly common in horror movie marketing.
The first and second trailers for Speak No Evil reveal all of the major plot points from the original film, along with a few new ones specific to the remake. The slowly worsening social unrest between the two families, the repeated boundary crossings, the eventual escape attempt, and the revelation that the creepy couple’s child has been kidnapped and rendered mute are all revealed in the trailers. Even the home invasion/siege climax, which wasn’t in the original film, is seen in the final trailer for McAvoy’s Speak No Evil remake, leaving almost no reason for audiences to see the film.
‘Speak No Evil’ continues ominous trend of 2024 horror movies
Alien: Romulus, Immaculate, and Abigail share their Speak No Evil issues
Sadly, the Speak No Evil remake is by no means the first major horror movie of 2024 to reveal significant portions of the story in its trailers. Trailers for Alien: Romulus, Immaculate and Abigail spoiled major deaths, story points and even the ending. This trend is easily avoided, with Longlegs’ phenomenally successful advertising campaign proving it. Oz Perkins’s grisly serial killer horror revealed very little in its cryptic trailers, but generated enough interest upon release that it became a huge hit during its opening weekend. Unfortunately, it’s too late for the Speak No Evil remake to take the same approach.
Speak No Evil (2024)
Director: James Watkins
Release date: September 13, 2024
Writer James Watkins
Cast: James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, Alix West-Leffler, Aisling Franciosi
Duration: 110 minutes
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