Speak No Evil
Theatrical release poster
DanishGæsterne
LiterallyThe Guests
Directed byChristian Tafdrup
Written by
  • Christian Tafdrup
  • Mads Tafdrup
Produced byJacob Jarek
Starring
CinematographyErik Molberg Hansen
Edited byNicolaj Monberg
Music bySune "Køter" Kølster
Production
companies
  • Profile Pictures
  • Oak Motion Pictures
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 22 January 2022 (2022-01-22) (Sundance)
  • 17 March 2022 (2022-03-17) (Denmark)
  • 21 July 2022 (2022-07-21) (Netherlands)
Running time
98 minutes
Countries
  • Denmark
  • Netherlands[1]
Languages
  • English
  • Danish
  • Dutch
Budget
  • €2.8 million[2]
  • (est. $3.1 million)
Box office$631,249[3]

Speak No Evil (Danish: Gæsterne, lit. 'The Guests') is a 2022 psychological horror thriller film[4][5] directed by Christian Tafdrup from a screenplay he co-wrote with his brother Mads. It is produced by Jacob Jarek and is distributed by Nordisk Film. Filming took place in Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy, and most of the film is shot in English, with some scenes in Danish and Dutch. The film centers on Bjørn (Morten Burian) and Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch), a Danish couple who are invited by Patrick (Fedja van Huêt) and Karin (Karina Smulders), a Dutch couple, to their country house for a weekend holiday; the hosts soon begin to test the limits of their guests as the situation escalates.

Speak No Evil premiered in the Midnight section at the 38th Sundance Film Festival on 22 January 2022. It was theatrically released in Denmark on 17 March 2022 and in the Netherlands on 21 July.

Plot

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 (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, then drunkenly makes out with his willing wife in front of Bjørn and Louise. 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. The pictures 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; when Bjørn protests, Patrick begins to beat him 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.

Cast

Production

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]

Release

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]

Reception

Box office

Speak No Evil grossed $0 in North America[15] and $631,249 in other territories,[3] against a production budget of about $3.1 million.[2]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 84% of 90 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "A social satire with razor-sharp teeth, Speak No Evil offers a darkly delicious treat for fans of misanthropic thrillers."[19][18] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[20] Sundance Film Festival touted the film as a "brilliantly provocative and simmering satirical work of horror [that] incriminates both sides".[4]

Reviewing the film for IndieWire, Susannah Gruder praised the acting performances (specially Morten Burian's) and gave it a grade of "A" on an "A+" to "F" scale, and called it "the most cunningly depraved horror film in years [that offers] a piercing commentary on the ways we accommodate others to the point of self-subjugation".[5] The New York Times critic Jeannette Catsoulis gave the film a score of 90/100, and while praising Tafdrup's direction called it "an icy satire of middle-class mores [that glides] inexorably from squirmy to sinister to full-on shocking [and] is utterly fearless in its mission to unsettle".[21]

Accolades

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref(s)
Ostend Film Festival 4–12 March 2022 Best Coproduction Speak No Evil Nominated [22]
Seattle International Film Festival 14–24 April 2022 Best Film Nominated [23]
Chicago Film Critics Association 13–19 May 2022 Narrative Feature Nominated [24]
Filmfest München 22 June–2 July 2022 Best Film by an Emerging Director Christian Tafdrup Nominated [25]
Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival 7–17 July 2022 Best Director Choice Won [26]
MOTELx – Festival Internacional de Cinema de Terror de Lisboa 6–12 September 2022 Best European Feature Film Speak No Evil Won [27][28]
Sitges Film Festival 6–16 October 2022 Best Motion Picture Nominated [29]

Remake

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]

References

  1. ↑ "Speak No Evil (Gæsterne)". Cineuropa. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 "Speak No Evil". TrustNordisk. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Speak No Evil". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Press release: Writer/Director Christian Tafdrup's thriller, SPEAK NO EVIL, to World Premiere at Sundance Film Festival". Nordisk Film. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  5. 1 2 Gruder, Susannah (22 January 2022). "'Speak No Evil' Review: This Chilling Danish Horror Offering Is the Opposite of Hygge". IndieWire. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  6. ↑ Agrawal, Shikhar (16 September 2022). "'Speak No Evil' Ending, Explained: What Happened To Bjorn and Louise? Is Agnes Dead Or Alive?". Digital Mafia Talkies. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  7. ↑ "Speak No Evil (2022) – Sundance Film Festival". Cultural Hater. 29 January 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  8. ↑ "Speak No Evil". Fantasy Filmfest. 17 August 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  9. 1 2 3 Mitchell, Wendy. "Buyers shout for TrustNordisk psychological thriller 'Speak No Evil' (exclusive)". Screen Daily. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  10. ↑ Grater, Tom (12 June 2020). "TrustNordisk Boards 'Speak No Evil'; BFI Gives $1.4M To UK Cinemas; AGC Takes 'John Lewis' Doc To Cannes – Global Briefs". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  11. ↑ Mitchell, Wendy (11 February 2021). "Hot presentations at Goteborg include 'Stranger,' 'Speak No Evil', 'Hypnosis'". Screen Daily. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  12. ↑ "Printable Program Guide - Sundance Institute" (PDF). sundance.org. 6 January 2022. p. 11. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  13. ↑ Small, Katie (22 January 2022). "With Speak No Evil, the Tafdrup brothers set out to create "the most unpleasant experience ever"". sundance.org. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  14. ↑ Erbland, Kate; Thompson, Anne (9 December 2021). "Sundance 2022 Lineup: New Films from Lena Dunham, Amy Poehler, Jesse Eisenberg, and More". IndieWire. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  15. 1 2 3 "Gæsterne (2022)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  16. ↑ "Speak No Evil". FilmFyn (in Danish). Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  17. ↑ "Speak No Evil" (in Dutch). September Film. 21 July 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  18. 1 2 "Speak No Evil". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  19. ↑ "Speak No Evil". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  20. ↑ "Speak No Evil". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  21. ↑ Catsoulis, Jeannette (8 September 2022). "'Speak No Evil' Review: Impolite Company". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  22. ↑ "Speak No Evil". Ostend Film Festival. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  23. ↑ "Speak No Evil". Seattle International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 26 September 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  24. ↑ "Speak No Evil". Chicago International Film Festival. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  25. ↑ "Speak No Evil" (in German). Filmfest München. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  26. ↑ Myeong-dong, Kwak (15 July 2022). "제26회 부천국제판타스틱영화제 작품상 '혼자가 아닌'(부천 초이스), '신체모음.zip'(코리안 판타스틱) 수상" [26th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival Award for Best Picture 'Not Alone' (Bucheon Choice), 'Body Collection.zip' (Korean Fantastic)]. Naver (in Korean). Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  27. ↑ filmSPOT. ""Speak no Evil" e "Vórtice" ganham no Motelx" ["Speak no Evil" and "Vortex" win at Motelx]. filmSPOT (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  28. ↑ MOTELX. "Speak No Evil – Filmes" (in European Portuguese). MOTELx – Festival Internacional de Cinema de Terror de Lisboa. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  29. ↑ "Speak No Evil". Sitges Film Festival. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  30. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (17 April 2023). "James McAvoy Reteams With Blumhouse For 'Speak No Evil', Sets Summer 2024 Release". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
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