James McAvoy gets dark in Blumhouse thriller

James McAvoy plays another crazy villain in Do not speak evil, which is not a bad thing. He is very good at it. However, this one is very different from his multiple personality character in M. Night Shyamalan's Share And GlassHere he is, Paddy, a doctor turned gentleman farmer whose charm and wit… well, what he hides is the central question in this thriller about an American couple, Ben (Scoot McNairy) and Louise (Mackenzie Davis), living in London who accept an invitation to spend a weekend on the farm of Paddy and his wife Ciara (Aisling Franciosi).

The slow pace of the film is an advantage, not a flaw. Speak no evil works best when it focuses on the escalating fears of Americans, and falls apart towards the end when the psychological horror story becomes a predictable pulp novel. But for a good three-quarters of its time, this Blumhouse production is an entertainingly upscale genre piece.

James Watkins, who previously directed Eden Lake And The Woman in Blackhas a sure knack for increasing the tension in the film, which is based on the 2022 Danish thriller GuestsIt begins with gorgeous views of Italy, where Ben and Louise are vacationing with their 11-year-old daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler), a fearful child who is attached to Hoppy, the stuffed rabbit she calls her “worry bunny.”

At their resort, they meet Paddy, Ciara and their son Ant (Dan Hough). Paddy explains that Ant can't speak because he was born with a deformed tongue. McAvoy modulates the performance so that Paddy is engaging, funny and a little too friendly. He's the type of guy who can argue with Louise in a friendly way about her being a vegetarian without the conversation turning into an argument.

When they are back in London, they are surprised to receive Paddy's weekend invitation and Louise, who is always skeptical of him, declines. Ben wants to accept the invitation, arguing that the children of the two couples, who both need friends, get on well together, so why not? The back and forth between Ben and Louise makes the whole time Speak no evil more than a guessing game about what bad thing might happen. Davis deftly convinces us that Louise is trying not to seem like she's trying to shake things up, which explains why she often goes along with things that make her uncomfortable. Having moved the family to London for a job he quickly lost, Ben is quite needy. He's also confused for far too long, preferring to believe what he wants to see rather than what's right in front of him. But both McNairy and Davis keep their characters grounded long after the script falls apart.

The farmhouse itself is perfectly shabby-chic, with a production design that makes it seem slightly mysterious (stained glass windows on the bedroom doors) but not particularly haunted. It is, of course, so isolated that there is no cell reception. Rhetorical question: Has there ever been a landline phone in a horror movie that not drop the line later? Watkins, however, doesn't indulge in these cliches or draw attention to them, as he makes us question the mystery of Paddy and wonder how long it will be before Ben and Louise come to their senses and run away.

Paddy's shenanigans begin almost the minute the guests arrive, when he insists that Louise get the first bite of the prize-winning lamb he's slaughtered and cooked as if the whole talk of vegetarianism had never happened. He bullies, but with a smile. McAvoy gradually ramps up the creepiness. In one scene, he brings real danger to his recitation of Philip Larkin's poem “This Be the Verse,” with its famous line about how families mess you up, a hint of a lot going wrong. The film feels like a cheap mix of Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? with his guest luring and The Shining – The Wonderful World of Madnesswith McAvoy sporting a crazy, Nicholson-esque glint in his eye as we wait for a massive “Here's Johnny!” moment.

Franzios (The Nightingale) makes Ciara's character as slick as she should be. Lefler is thoroughly convincing as Agnes, who is often smarter than her parents. And as Ant, Hough (who doesn't have his character's disability in real life) does a remarkable job of expressing himself without words, especially when it's time for Ant to reveal some family secrets.

Unfortunately, the story takes far too many predictable twists and turns. There's a “get out of the house” phase, then a “really don't go back to that farmhouse” moment, until finally it's “I give up, these people are hopeless.” The climactic action battle between good and evil, with knives and guns drawn, is actually disappointing, although you have to admire Louise's ingenuity in turning household cleaners into weapons. And all the actors are so enthusiastic right up until the end that they almost make up for that final silliness.