Deauville Film Festival 2024: James McAvoy monstrous in a great horror film

Don’t speak badlyBlumhouse’s new nugget

In addition to the competition of the 50th Deauville Festival, this edition’s programming also includes its first novelties. Among these is the new film by James Watkins (Lake of Eden), to whom Blumhouse had the excellent idea of ​​entrusting the creation of their new production: Don’t speak badly. One of Blumhouse’s credos is to do a lot with a little, with this idea of ​​getting the most out of limited budgets in the hope of very profitable box office successes.

The Daltons, an American family living in London, spend the weekend at the dream property of a charming British family, Paddy, Ciara and their boyfriend Ant, who they met on holiday in Italy. But this stay, which promised to be idyllic, soon turns into a terrible nightmare…

We will have to wait for the release of Don’t speak badly in the United States and elsewhere (September 18 in France) to see if this commercial gamble will be successful. But, presented in Deauville in front of an audience that was frightened, applauded and laughed out loud several times during the screening, Don’t speak badly has already proven to be so excellent entertainmentdiabolically playful and cruel, using the codes of horror and those of a home invasion inversion.

A performance larger than life by James McAvoy

The cast includes Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy, who play Louise and Ben Dalton – their daughter Agnès is played by Alix West Lefler – while James McAvoy and Aisling Franciosi are Paddy and Ciara, parents of a young boy played by Dan Hough. As we can see from the trailer of the film, Paddy and Ciara are very different from the charming couple that Ben and Louise meet in Italy.

We will not reveal the terrifying – and sometimes funny – adventures of Don’t speak badlybut we can write that James McAvoy, all muscles, anger and dementia, delivers a fascinating spectacledoing much more than making his “guests” – and the audience – uncomfortable. He exudes such insane energy and intensity that the editing even gives him a fleeting look at the camera whose effectiveness makes it a model of its kind. Don’t speak badly owes much to the British actor for the great pleasure he gives, capturing all eyes from the moment he is on the screen. Opposite him, the always excellent Scoot McNairy, in a register in which he explores cowardice and indecision, creates a perfectly enjoyable imbalance.

We have to leave this house, as Louise quickly points out to Ben, sensing that something is wrong with Paddy and Ciara’s behavior. But Ben, who thinks he’s found a friend in Paddy, drags his feet, not realizing that a vice is tightening around them…

Well written and extremely effective, the scenario of Don’t speak badly becomes a tense and breathless, suffocating narration on the screen, before the last part is launched a deadly game particularly satisfying. Don’t hesitate a second, Don’t speak badly It’s one of the best films to discover this September.

Source: Cine Serie

Ray

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