By Kip Mooney• On • In NewsNewsComments Off on “Speak No Evil” Remake Pushed to September
2022's Danish horror film Speak No Evil is one of the scariest movies of the decade. It has a great set-up, too. A married couple meets a family on vacation. The family later invites them to their (of course) secluded cabin in the woods. That's when things get strange, and then utterly terrifying.
An English-language remake coming so quickly feels a little unnecessary, especially since the original has a lot of spoken English. But the cast and crew are top-notch. Scoot McNairy and Mackenzie Davis play the invited couple, with James McAvoy playing one of the suspicious hosts. McAvoy is perfect casting for a role that requires a charming disposition to mask sinister intentions. James Watkins, crafter of moody horror flicks like Eden Lake and The Woman in Black, will write and direct. (He also directed the underrated action flick Bastille Day.)
Originally scheduled for August 9, the Blumhouse production moves closer to spooky season, now arriving September 6. It will face off against the animated Transformers movie Transformers One.
About Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about.
I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague.
Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work.
In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo.
I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.
