Speak No Evil

Speak No Evil (2022) Acorn International Media BluRay DVD (AV3802) Digital

The highly original, slow burning Danish horror from Christian Tafdrup, ‘Speak No Evil’ is available now on digital formats to own.

Beginning with a holiday in idyllic Tuscany, a shy, tight knit Danish family Bjorn (Morten Burian), Louise (Sidsei Siem Koch) and their daughter Agnes (Liva Forsberg) run across an open, friendly Dutch family, Patrick (Fedja van Huet), Karin (Karina Smulders) and son Abel (Marius Damslev) and become friends with them immediately.

Over dinner, the Danes are surprised but delighted to receive an invitation to come and stay with the Dutch family at their home, one which is repeated in a letter to them after their return home. They accept and drive to their secluded country home, greeted at the door and ushered in to a small, worn-in house with all the basics for living.

Getting ready for dinner, host Patrick has forgotten that Louise is a vegetarian, offering her some wild boar meat, but she accepts it politely after encouragement from Bjorn. Days are spent in simple country pleasures and one evening, dinner at a restaurant is offered, although not for the children who stay behind with babysitter Mujahid. After a meat-heavy meal, Patrick and Karin dance intimately to the diner’s hard rock music as Bjorn and Louise feel ever queasier. Bjorn offers his half of the bill, only to discover he is expected to pay for all of it. Patrick’s taste for loud, sleazy rock music surfaces again on the return trip on the in-car stereo. 

The uncomfortable atmosphere is ramped up further as the Dutch couple’s concept of personal space proves less conventional than the Danes’ and conflicts inevitably develop. Bjorn’s reluctance to give voice to his and Louise’s concerns over Patrick and Karin’s increasingly creepy behaviour sets him against Louise and after an incident involving Agnes and the Dutch couple, the Danes decide to leave. Persuaded back with a pack of totally inadequate explanations and insincere apologies from Patrick and Karin, the real nightmare begins.

A mixture of grim comedy of manners, town vs country rivalry and the gap between appearances and reality becoming a yawning chasm are carefully and slowly revealed in a story which builds to a horrifying climax and a delve into the sordid motives of the Dutch couple, only previously hinted at. A truly disturbing piece that will make you look twice at the affable strangers you find yourself befriending on holiday.

Scenester
15/12/24

Trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhWiiDhmBCM

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