James McAvoy’s Upcoming Horror Movie Keeps 2024’s Most Frustrating Genre Trend Alive

WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Speak No Evil (2022)

While 2024’s Speak No Evil remake might prove to be a good star vehicle for James McAvoy, the upcoming horror movie has already fallen victim to 2024’s worst genre trend. 2022’s Speak No Evil was a bleak European horror movie that earned shocked reactions and largely positive reviews upon release. Speak No Evil’s plot centers on a Danish family who befriend a Dutch family on vacation in Italy and visit them afterward. For its opening half, Speak No Evil plays out like a Ruben Ostlund movie, leaning into cringeworthy social awkwardness to ratchet up the tension.

However, well before Speak No Evil’s grim twist ending, it becomes obvious that there are more than mere cultural differences between the two families. The Dutch couple are hiding something seriously insidious, but the absurdly exagerrated politeness of the movie’s Danish heroes stops them from questioning their increasingly dire situation. Speak No Evil leans into a terrible trend in European horror with a comically downbeat ending that could have been borrowed from Funny Games, Nothing Bad Can Happen, or Borgman. Despite this, the original movie’s popularity resulted in an English-language remake that soon ran into issues of its own.

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James McAvoy’s Upcoming Horror Reboot Has An Impossible Ending Problem

Speak No Evil’s 2024 remake can’t replicate the original movie’s shocking ending, but it will be equally tough to replace this infamous climax.

Speak No Evil 2024’s Trailer Gives Away Its Entire Story

The Remake Of 2022’s Viral Horror Movie Spoils The Original Plot

2024’s Speak No Evil remake cast James McAvoy as the villainous father, transplanted the movie’s action to England, and turned the Danish family into American tourists. All of these changes led to the question of whether James McAvoy’s Speak No Evil remake can work since the original movie was so intrinsically focused on the cultural discord between Danish and Dutch customs. This comparatively small problem faded into the background when the trailers for Speak No Evil’s remake spoiled the movie’s entire story. This makes the remake much less exciting, but has become increasingly common in horror movie marketing.

Speak No Evil’s first and second trailers give away every major plot point in the original movie, and a few new ones unique to the remake. The gradually worsening social unease between the two families, the repeated boundary crossing, the eventual escape attempt, and the revelation that the creepy couple’s child has been kidnapped and rendered mute are all given away in the trailer. Even a home invasion/siege climax that wasn’t present in the original movie can be seen in the final trailer for McAvoy’s Speak No Evil remake, leaving viewers with little reason to watch the movie.

Speak No Evil Continues A Dispiriting 2024 Horror Trend

Alien: Romulus, Immaculate, And Abigail Shared Speak No Evil’s Problem

Sadly, Speak No Evil’s remake is far from the first major 2024 horror to give away significant chunks of its plot in the trailer. The trailers for Alien: Romulus, Immaculate, and Abigail all spoiled major deaths, plot points, or even their endings. This trend can easily be avoided, as evidenced by the phenomenally successful ad campaign for Longlegs. Director Oz Perkins’ chilling serial killer horror gave away almost nothing in its cryptic trailers but drummed up enough interest to earn a massive opening weekend upon release. Unfortunately, it is too late for Speak No Evil’s remake to take the same approach.

Speak No Evil (2024)

Director

James Watkins

Release Date

September 13, 2024

Writers

James Watkins

Cast

James McAvoy , Mackenzie Davis , Scoot McNairy , Alix West Lefler , Aisling Franciosi

Runtime

110 Minutes

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