Speak No Evil Director Addresses Making Changes for Reboot

The Danish horror movie Gæsterne was unleashed in 2022 and almost immediately after its release, Blumhouse Productions began talks with filmmaker Christian Tafdrup to put their own spin on his film. James Watkins was tapped to direct the American Speak No Evil, and while there are a number of similar themes being explored in the two films, Watkins confirmed there are some distinct changes from the source material. Rather than merely being arbitrary changes, Watkins explained that the differences in cultural perspectives motivated the deviations from the original movie. Speak No Evil is set to land in theaters on September 13th.

“There’ll be people that see the original movie and go, ‘Why hasn’t he remade that movie? Why hasn’t he made this incredibly punchy, unrelenting ending?’” Watkins explained to SFX magazine, per GamesRadar. “But I would argue, with my characters and their journey, I’m following through their journey in terms of agency and how they would react. What I’ve taken from Christian’s film is the satire, the exploration of the social rules, and how we react.”

The original movie, while assuredly a horror movie, is an incredibly bleak experience, feeling like a depressing drama to some audiences. Watkins went on to confirm that, while his take on the concept is still horror, it offers a bit more “fun” than the Danish film.

“I’ve made an incredibly bleak movie before, so I didn’t feel I needed to make another one,” the filmmaker confessed. “You can give people an incredibly tense roller coaster ride that has thematic nourishment and things to take away and talk about in the pub, but it can be fun.”

He added, “People need ‘fun’… Fun in inverted commas. I’ve sat with audiences and people come out of this absolutely rinsed, like you would on a great roller coaster ride … I wanted to make a film that is tense and has people screaming at the screen.”

When an American family is invited to spend the weekend at the idyllic country estate of a charming British family they befriended on vacation, what begins as a dream holiday soon warps into a snarled psychological nightmare. From Blumhouse, the producer of The Black Phone, Get Out, and The Invisible Man, comes an intense suspense thriller for our modern age, starring BAFTA award-winner James McAvoy (Split, Glass) in a riveting performance as the charismatic, alpha-male estate owner whose untrammeled hospitality masks an unspeakable darkness.

Speak No Evil is set to land in theaters on September 13th.  

Are you looking forward to the new movie? Contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or on Instagram to talk all things Star Wars and horror!