Rating: NR | Runtime: 97 minutes
Release Date: March 17th, 2022 (Denmark) / September 9th, 2022 (USA)
Studio: Nordisk Film Distribution / RLJ Entertainment / Shudder
Director(s): Christian Tafdrup
Writer(s): Christian Tafdrup & Mads Tafdrup

Because you let me.

It’s impossible not to get enraptured by Patrick (Fedja van Huêt) and Karin (Karina Smulders) once they start talking to the group of strangers sharing dinner at a large table in Italy. They’re all tourists making new friends and annoying each other with anecdotes as boring as the lives they themselves left behind, but this Dutch couple is different. They’re confident and funny. They listen and applaud.

Finally, Bjørn (Morten Burian) and Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch) have found people they truly enjoy spending time with—especially since Patrick and Karin’s shy son Abel (Marius Damslev) is the same age as their Agnes (Liva Forsberg). So, when a postcard making good on a promised invitation for a weekend holiday at their country home arrives weeks after everyone returned home, how could Bjørn and Louise say no?

There are, of course, numerous reasons why—in-film and out. Because while hardly knowing their new Dutch hosts is enough to give these Danes pause, we’re also aware they all exist within a horror story. Director Christian Tafdrup and his co-writer brother Mads ensure we never forget it as Speak No Evil steadily progresses through one awkward scenario after another that toes the line between misunderstanding and red flag.

Which parts of what occurs are cultural discrepancies and which are earmarks of the sort of psychopathy you should simply run from? It’s impossible to know once alcohol and excitement are thrown into the mix. Do Patrick and Karin honestly live their lives without shame and assume others do too? Or are they provoking their guests to see what sort of fight awaits once the game ultimately exposes its underlying darkness?

Everyone has talked about an insane twist, but I’d suggest you not get your hopes up too far. It honestly isn’t surprising at all—which by no means suggests it isn’t still effective. Sometimes hype gets the mind racing about some out-of-left-field reveal that unfortunately renders the one perfectly befitting of the experience into a letdown. And that’s not fair to what’s a legitimately suspense-filled nightmare no parent would ever wish upon their worst enemies.

Because the slow-burn pacing and multiple false starts are carefully measured to trick us into believing everything has been an overreaction. The filmmakers have us wondering if our protagonists are actually making matters worse themselves. That’s the point, after all. We’re so quick to forgive and forget that a monster blaming us for their actions isn’t wholly wrong.

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Morten Burian and Sidsel Siem Koch in SPEAK NO EVIL.