THERE'S NO POINT REMAKING A MOVIE that works on its own." No, that's not a quote from an angry YouTuber complaining about how Hollywood has run out of ideas, which is why it's remaking the exquisitely tense Dutch horror Speak No Evil. Instead, those are the words of James Watkins, the writer and director behind the upcoming American retread. "[Director] Christian [Tafdrup]'s film works brilliantly," Watkins says. "It's incredibly uncompromising in following through its thesis to its end. There's just no point remaking it. I thought, 'Well, I can have a conversation with that movie."
The original Speak No Evil's premise is devilishly simple: a happy Danish family go on holiday in Tuscany, where they are befriended by another family. Once back home, the Danes accept an invitation to the other family's house in the remote Dutch countryside, only to gradually realise that these people are not who they seem. It’s a tension-filled, slow-burn horror that examines how so many of us are afraid to break normal social cues, to the point where we can end up suffering unnecessarily just to stay polite. Tafdrup’s film, though, takes this to a more deadly extreme.
Watkins transposes the action to the English countryside. An unhappily married American couple – played by Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy – along with their daughter, Alix West Lefler’s Agnes, visit their mysterious, charming new friends from Gloucestershire, portrayed with charismatic, bone-chilling excellence by James McAvoy and Aisling Franciosi. They, too, have a child in Dan Hough’s Ant, though he can’t speak because his tongue didn’t grow properly when he was born.
Horror studio Blumhouse is behind the remake and had been searching for the right filmmaker to take on the project when executive producer Couper Samuelson approached Watkins about the idea, having enjoyed his bleak 2008 horror Eden Lake, starring Kelly Reilly and Michael Fassbender.
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ANCER MAHAGEMENT
WITH A NEW TRILOGY IN SIGHT, WE SPEAK TO THE DIRECTOR OF 28 WEEKS LATER THE ORIGINAL CHILLING SEQUEL TO DANNY BOYLE'S SEMINAL SURVIVAL HORROR
WHO YA CONNA CALL?
BEHIND THE SCENES AT HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS FOR GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE
SPEAK OF THE DEVIL
THE DEVIL'S HOUR STRIKES TWICE AS THE GENREDEFYING DRAMA RETURNS
SCARRY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK
FROM THE RETURN OF EC COMICS TO SCREAM!, THIS YEAR'S HALLOWEEN OFFERS UP HORROR COMICS FOR ALL THE AGES
UNDEADS REFLECTIONS
NEIL JORDAN ON BRINGING ANNE RICE'S MODERN VAMPIRE CLASSIC TO SCREEN, 30 YEARS ON
MUNSTER MASH!
PRODUCTION HELL, SHOCK RECASTING AND HOTLY CONTESTED AUTHORSHIP. AS THE MUNSTERS CELEBRATE THEIR 60TH ANNIVERSARY, WE UNCOVER HOW THE SPOOKY SITCOM WAS ALMOST DEAD ON ARRIVAL
COMING TO AMERICA
THE MOGWAI LIVE THE AMERICAN DREAM IN THEIR SECOND CHAPTER, GREMLINS: THE WILD BATCH
BEING HUMAN EVOLUTION
IT MAY HAVE BEEN AN INSTANT HIT, BUT BBC THREE'S DARKLY COMIC DRAMA ABOUT A HOUSE-SHARING VAMPIRE/WEREWOLF/GHOST TRIO HAD A STRANGE JOURNEY TO THE SCREEN, SERIES CREATOR TOBY WHITHOUSE TELLS SFX
THE MAINE EVENT
THE DARK IS RISING IN SALEM'S LOT AS STEPHEN KING'S DEATHLESS TALE RETURNS TO THE SCREEN
WHY DON'T YOU STAY FOR A BITE?
THE VAMPIRE COMES HOME AS DIRECTOR EUROS LYN WELCOMES SFX TO HIS NEW DARK COMEDY THE RADLEYS