One of the most universal genres, and one of the few which requires little dialogue, horror has been blessed in recent years by the boom in foreign films going big in western audiences.
Thanks to such a change in culture, films like Speak No Evil are able to come out of the blue and conquer streaming and leave a dastardly impression on audiences. The Danish film has seen glowing reviews, but importantly horror afficionados are revelling in its themes and imagery.
Horror’s home on Reddit is full of praise for it, with a user calling it so effective at its story of capitulation it made their blood boil. Typically not words you’d associate with the genre.
There’s a certain subgenre of horror which dedicates itself to leaving you utterly exhausted. These are most definitely not your fun slasher films, but instead flicks like Men and Speak No Evil. Sure, being scared is cool, but have you ever experienced a film so taxing you can’t wait to be free of it?
Without spoiling it, Speak No Evil is a cautionary tale about the inability to just say no. It’s thematically similar as well to Us for its portrayal of middle class dread of falling down the ladder and fear of being overtaken. Social commentary, baby!
As other commenters have said though, it is a bit of a frustrating watch. One Redditor even said they stopped watching the film and read the rest of the film’s plot online. Which itself is impressive, given its runtime is just 98 minutes.
Speak No Evil is currently available to stream on Shudder.
