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  • James McAvoy provides the creeps in the horror film ‘Speak No Evil.’ (Photo: Universal)


    “Speak No Evil” turns an American family’s dream holiday into a psychological nightmare and is helping to make 2024 the year of a horror movie revival.

    Blumhouse, the producer of The Black PhoneGet Out and The Invisible Man, has released a new trailer showcasing the intense thriller, where a budding friendship turns into daunting horror.

    James McAvoy (SplitGlass) is thoroughly creepy as the “charismatic, alpha-male estate owner whose untrammeled hospitality masks an unspeakable darkness.” according to the film’s synopsis.

    McAvoy is convincing as the friendly, but deranged family head. Aisling Franciosi plays his creepy wife, Ciara, and 11-year-old newcomer Dan Hough plays their enigmatic, mute son, Ant.

    Speak No Evil

    Filmed mainly in Gloucester, UK, and one week of filming in Croatia, the drama takes place in a secluded farmhouse. The seeming paradise is isolated and grows increasingly suffocating.

    House guests, Ben Dalton, played by Scoot McNairy, wife Louise, played by Mackenzie Davis and precocious daughter Agnes, played by Alix West Lefler, become increasingly uncomfortable with the family’s smothering hospitality.

    But when they try leave, there find their options quickly limited. Agnes befriends Ant, who slowly unwinds the deadly secrets.

    The film was written for the screen and directed by James Watkins, the veteran writer-director of Eden Lake and the award-winning Gothic ghost story The Woman in Black, starring Daniel Radcliffe.

    Speak No Evil is based on the screenplay of the 2022 Danish horror sensation Gæsterne, written by Christian Tafdrup and Mads Tafdrup.

    That film earned 11 Danish Film Awards nominations, the Danish equivalent of the Oscars. 

    Check out the trailer! The film debuts in September.

    Genre: Psychological Thriller

    Cast: James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Aisling Franciosi, Alix West Lefler, Dan Hough and Scoot McNairy 

    Written for the Screen and Directed by: James Watkins 

    Based on the screenplay by: Christian Tafdrup and Mads Tafdrup 

    Producers: Jason Blum, Paul Ritchie 

    Executive Producers: Beatriz Sequeira, Jacob Jarek, Christian Tafdrup 

    Horror Movie Wide theatrical releases in the United States – 2024
    Longlegs – July 12
    Alien: Romulus – August 16
    Afraid – August 30
    The Front Room – September 6
    Speak No Evil – September 13
    Never Let Go – September 27
    Smile 2 – October 18
    Heretic – November 15
    Nightbitch – December 6
    Nosferatu – December 25

    Home video releases in the United States – 2024
    The Strangers: Chapter 1 – July 23 (DVD/Blu-ray)
    Starve Acre – July 26 (Digital/VOD)
    The First Omen – July 30 (DVD/Blu-ray)
    Sting – July 30 (DVD/Blu-ray)
    #AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead – August 2 (Digital/VOD)
    The Watchers – August 27 (DVD/Blu-ray)
    The Deliverance – August 30 (Netflix)
    A Quiet Place: Day One – TBA (DVD/Blu-ray)
    MaXXXine – TBA (DVD/Blu-ray)
    Source: IMDB