Mackenzie Davis peels back the layers of her character in the disturbing psychological horror, ‘Speak No Evil’
“Speak No Evil”, which will be released on the big screen on Friday, is being celebrated as a psychological horror masterpiece by critics.
In his portrayal of Paddy, James McAvoy's intense embodiment of toxic masculinity has garnered rave reviews, too.
The film, which is a remake of the 2022 Danish feature and written and directed by James Watkins, is centred on an American family who are guests of a British family at their idyllic farmhouse for the weekend.
The American family is played by Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy as Louise and Ben Dalton. They are joined by their 11-year-old daughter, Agnes (Alix West Lefler).
Paddy, his wife, Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), and their mute son, Ant (Dan Hough), play the host family.
However, what should have been a dream holiday becomes a nightmare for the American family.
On giving the nod to the project, Davis said: “‘Speak No Evil’ touches on how excruciating it can be to navigate social spaces and how that can feel in life-or-death scenarios.
“It’s almost as if something like 80% of the movie feels like a social misstep and then the last 20% of it becomes a full-fledged horror film, all of it built on the terror of simply existing.”
She added: “When I read the script, the one thing I liked was how the Daltons kept continuing to put themselves in danger.
“It frustrated me but, at the same time, I understood it was because of the social contract to be empathetic and interested in other people's experiences, which can neuter your response to a situation.
“I don’t know what the lesson of the movie is but it certainly touches on that experience of ignoring your instincts.
“What really interested me about the script, as a whole, was that it was rooted in the reality of a contemporary type of socialising and a cultural response to uncomfortable situations we've all been in, to a certain point.”
There’s an unmistakable never-give-up attitude with her character.
Unpacking the layers of her character, Davis shared: “Louise has a lot of anxiety and she's in this very uncomfortable place in her life and can feel herself not being the cool person in the room but she follows her instincts to protect her family.
“I can relate to feeling uncomfortable negotiating your instincts and the environment and I believe that's a lot of what Louise is going through in this movie, where she is trying to do the right thing while being exposed for having made some wrong choices.
“The stakes she has as a mother and a wife and a person in general are very high; in the end, she's right”
As the storyline unfolds, so too do the cracks in the Dalton family. Having moved to London after Ben lost his job, the couple have drifted apart, which has placed all sorts of anxiety on their daughter.
With McAvoy receiving high praise for his disturbing portrayal, Davis added: “I love James McAvoy. He’s truly cool and great and I think the world of him. He is so fun to work with and obscenely talented.
“His Paddy is this charismatic, bombastic, loud, gregarious man we meet on vacation that inhabits all the freedom and vitality Louise and Ben are missing in their relationship and approach to life.
“He and his wife, Ciara, just seem so in love and spontaneous and impetuous, and they kind of sweep the Daltons off their feet, giving them a nice little injection of hope in their marriage.
“And then we decide to do the thing you should never do, which is hang out with vacation friends after the vacation - we go to their country house and are punished for it.”
On working with McNairy, she added: “It’s funny because he’s playing this nervous city man who is looking for identity when, in real life, Scoot is the ultimate outdoorsman.
“As James would say, Scoot McNairy is the real Paddy, but here he portrays the diminutive acolyte to that virile leader.”
Davis was equally praiseworthy when it came to Watkins, too.
She said: “As the writer and director of ‘Speak No Evil’, James was a great fit for this very grounded film, because he's trying to avoid any tropes and play it kind of like the story of a couple in crisis rather than a horror movie where every jump scare is going to have increased value and power.
“When we first met, he told me that the horror would always take care of itself, which I knew was true due to his experience in the genre; so, we focused on the storytelling and the life-and-death reality we feel invested in and chilled by.
“His goal was to ground the whole film in the experience of this couple and that period of their life, so that the stakes of the relationship, the family, and the social environment were handled with the same seriousness and graveness as the life-and-death stakes when they arise.”
∎ “Speak No Evil” will be showing at cinemas nationwide from Friday, September 13.