“Speak No Evil” warns us right from the very beginning that something bad will happen sooner or later, and that turns out to be quite disturbing to say the least. Starting from one sunny and pleasant environment, the movie eventually puts us through a series of increasingly dark and uncomfortable moments, and we find ourselves held tighter by its chillingly ruthless descent into darkness even when we clearly come to see its inevitable conclusion.
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At first, we are introduced to Bjørn (Morten Burian) and Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch), an ordinary middle-class Danish couple who is currently having a little summer vacation along with their little daughter in Italy. While they are going through another pleasant and relaxing day, they happen to come across a Dutch couple who arrived a few days ago along with their little silent son, and it does not take much time for them to befriend this Dutch couple, Patrick (Fedja van Huêt) and Karin (Karina Smulders), during next several days.

Not long after they return to their residence in Denmark, Bjørn and Louise receive a postcard from Patrick and Karin, who seem to have had a real good time along with Bjørn and Louise. As a matter of fact, they cordially suggest that t Bjørn and Louise should come to their home in Holland someday, and Bjørn and Louise eventually decide that they will spend a weekend in Patrick and Karin’s residence, though, as they admit at one point, they do not know that much about Patrick or Karin.

Of course, things already do not look good to us even at that point. As Bjørn and Louise travel to Patrick and Karin’s house along with their daughter, the ominous score by Sune “Køter” Kølst frequently fills the screen with an aura of grave danger, and we are all the more unnerved as observing how isolated Patrick and Karin’s house looks in the middle of some remote rural spot – how their son still remains silent without saying any word.

While Patrick and Karin are eager to welcome Bjørn and Louise into their house, it does not take much time for us to discern how they often make Bjørn and Louise uncomfortable in one indirect way or another. For example, Patrick offers a piece of cooked meat to Louise even though he knows well that she is a vegetarian, and that is just the beginning of many small things which disturb or annoy Louise. No matter how much she tries to be nice and polite on the surface, Patrick and Karin gradually get on her nerve with more rudeness, and we are not so surprised when she eventually decides that enough is enough at one point later in the story.

In comparison, Bjørn seems less oblivious to how impolite Patrick and Karin are at times. As your average meek middle-class guy who has a fair share of frustration and suffocation behind his gentle appearance, he cannot help but envy Patrick’s casually masculine attitude, and he certainly feels good when he has a little moment of emotional ventilation along with Patrick at one abandoned site not so far from Patrick and Karin’s house.

In the meantime, more bad signs for Bjørn and Louise (and us) pop out one by one. There is a little disquieting moment associated with Patrick and Karin’s son. There is also a tense moment when Louise finds her private moment almost violated by Patrick. Above all, Bjørn and Louise feel more disturbed about how Patrick and Karin are often callous to their son right in front of Bjørn and Louise, and then there comes a point when both of Bjørn and Louise cannot possibly tolerate Patrick and Karin anymore.

Around that narrative point, the screenplay by director Christian Tafdrup, who won the Best Director award when the movie was shown at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in last year, and his brother/co-writer Mads Tafdrup shifts the story from a vicious black comedy of manners to something much darker than that. Yes, Patrick and Karin are not merely rude hosts at all as implied from the very beginning, but we are still chilled as observing how Bjørn and Louise get stuck more with Patrick and Karin along the story despite some opportunities and chances given to them. In short, this is a devious inversion of home invasion movies such as “The Strangers” (2008), and this aspect is more evident to us during its brutally nihilistic finale, which will make you wince more than once for good reasons.

While I give it three stars for its solid mood, storytelling, and performance, I am wondering whether I can really recommend “Speak No Evil” to everyone. A few days ago, a Filipino friend of mine, who is living with his wife and their two kids in Australia at present, once told me that he cannot revisit “The Exorcist” (1973) for an understandable personal reason, and I am certain that “Speak No Evil” is too grim for him for the same reason.

Anyway, “Speak No Evil” will leave you quite a striking impression if you are ready for something really dark and intense. If so, you should check it out as soon as possible considering that its American version is being produced by Blumhouse Productions at present. Although I still feel rather ambivalent about “Speak No Evil” even at present, I also want the American version not to screw up anything, and I guess that says a lot about its overall effectiveness as a horror thriller film.