Speak No Evil, a recent Shudder release, has a devilish twist ending that has viewers wondering what the brutal horror film's dénouement actually means. The year 2022 has been fantastic for horror. Everyone can enjoy a 2022 horror film, whether they prefer the big-budget frights of Nope or the campy twists of Orphan: First Kill. The streaming service Shudder has made an effort to provide a home for all of these diverse horror films, with the site's collection of new releases including everything from silly monster movies to somber psychological horrors.
On September 15, Speak No Evil, a horror film from Europe, was released. Since then, online discussion about the film has been rife with conflicting opinions. The nihilistic comedy of manners in Speak No Evil, the latest film from Danish director Christian Tafdrup, divided audiences when it made its Sundance Film Festival debut earlier this year. Speak No Evil's conclusion also poses a moral conundrum, even though horror films are infamous for their use of twist endings. Speak No Evil is a psychological horror film, but for the majority of its running time, it plays more like a grim, unusually intense cringe comedy. Speak No Evil takes the opposite tack from many indie horror hits like Terrifier, which take advantage of their audience's distancing from them to tell stories that would be too graphic and explicit for mainstream moviegoers. The majority of Speak No Evil's carefully constructed narrative is a non-violent comedy of manners that starts when the timid, weak-willed Bjorn meets the feisty Patrick while on vacation. Bjorn is enchanted by Patrick to the point where he accepts his invitation to visit his home in the isolated Dutch countryside. When Bjorn's wife Louise and daughter Agnes travel with him, they quickly run afoul of Patrick's strange, mute son Abel and his overly familiar wife Karin. Until Speak No Evil's shockingly depressing, unexpected twist ending, the Danish family spends the majority of the film uncomfortable ignoring repeated transgressions, microaggressions, and unspoken boundary crossings. Speak No Evil gradually reveals that there is a serious problem with the Dutch family throughout the duration of the Shudder horror film. Patrick and Karin repeatedly demonstrate that they don't care about the discomfort of their guests, whether it's by obtrusively insisting that Louise, a vegetarian, eat a meat dish, pressuring Bjorn into paying for an expensive meal, or abruptly informing the couple that the kids would be looked after by , a babysitter who Louise and Bjorn don't know. As Patrick physically assaults his son Abel on the playground, verbally scolds Agnes and Abel after they mess up a dance routine, and observes Louise take a shower, these impolite actions gradually turn into outright abuse. Once Louise realizes her child is sleeping in the same room as Patrick and a nude Karin, she persuades Bjorn to leave with Agnes. However, their escape doesn't go as planned. Bjorn has to search for assistance in the woods after his car breaks down, which is a standard horror movie cliché. Patrick and Karin have Agnes and Louise hostage when he returns to his car.Agnes makes it through to the conclusion of Speak No Evil, but she might have regretted it. Bjorn sneaks outside to find Abel's dead body after hearing Patrick beating the youngster. He learns that Karin and Patrick were the ones who abducted Abel, amputated his tongue, and intended to do the same to his family. Bjorn pleads with Patrick to spare Louise and Agnes from harm when he discovers them with him and Louise. He is told by Patrick to follow his instructions, and he assures him that nothing will happen to his family (this is obviously a lie). Before Patrick drives them to an empty quarry, Bjorn and Louise watch helplessly as Karin amputates Agnes' tongue and takes the child with her. Patrick and Muhajid kill Louse and Bjorn there by stone-throwing them. There are numerous unsolved mysteries in the history of horror movies, ranging from how Freddy Krueger acquired his abilities to whether Michael Myers can be killed. The biggest issues raised by Speak No Evil's ambiguous conclusion, though, are more existential. For the first two acts of Speak No Evil, it is somewhat understandable that Bjorn and Louise might feel compelled to keep quiet about their hosts' unpredictable behavior, but in the final act, their lack of ability to reason beggars belief. The majority of Speak No Evil's favorable reviews point to Bjorn's politeness as his fatal flaw, claiming that Bjorn's excessively permissive attitude ultimately dooms him, Louise, and their child. This justification, though, is incoherent. Most viewers are able to distinguish between Bjorn's common social graces and magnanimity and his ingrained inability to act in his own best interests. Speak No Evil's narrative isn't subject to many different interpretations, unlike Nope's ambiguous twist ending. Speak No Evil makes a pretty clear argument, though it's not always a good one. Grace and politeness are enough in the Speak No Evil universe to endanger a family of three. Bjorn is too afraid of conflict, which leads to the disfigurement of a young child, the murder of another, and the stone death of two adults. Notably, despite doing most of the killing and torturing in Speak No Evil, Patrick gets a pass in the film's resolution because, in an unbearably tense scene, he walks into the woods for a bathroom break while the car is still running. If only they were willing to risk their safety and engage in combat, Louise and Bjorn could now access the keys and leave. Inevitably, they fail to do so, and the critically acclaimed horror film from 2022 once more drives home its obvious moral.
Speak No Evil's conclusion affirms a fundamentally conservative worldview despite its provocative horror scenes. The other couple's cultural differences are all an act to victimize an upper-class family, and Bjorn fails because he is not enough of a traditionally masculine hero at crucial moments, his politeness demonstrates that he is inherently weak. Finally, the wealthy heroes are executed for the simple crime of being too decent, nice, and polite.
Comments
Post a Comment