Not everyone loves Christmas movies. If you’d rather spend your holidays with a bloodied, murderous, deranged James McAvoy, you’re in luck, because Speak No Evil is now streaming Peacock, free to anyone with a Peacock Premium subscription.
Written and directed by Jame Watkins (Eden Lake, The Woman in Black), this psychological thriller stars McAvoy and Irish actor Aisling Franciosi as a seemingly nice British couple. They befriend a vacationing American couple, Louise and Ben Dalton (actors Mackenzie Davis and Alix West Lefler) to stay with them in their home. This generous hospitality quickly turns into a murderous nightmare. Note to self: Get a hotel when travelling abroad instead of accepting accommodations from strangers.
In fact, the 2024 Speak No Evil is an American remake of the 2022 Danish film of the same name, directed by Christian Tafdrup, who also co-wrote the script with his brother Mads Tafdrup. If you watch both movies, you’ll see that they have very different endings. Read on for a breakdown of the 2024 Speak No Evil ending, and how it’s different from the Speak No Evil original ending.
2024 Speak No Evil plot summary:
Ben (Scoot McNairy) and Louise Dalton (Mackenzie Davis) are on a family vacation in Italy with their anxious 11-year-old daughter, Agnes (Alix West Lefler). Ben is frustrated that his daughter still sleeps with a security stuffed animal, a bunny named Hoppy, and wants to employ a “tough love” strategy to help her grow up. But Louise prefers to indulge Agnes.
On this vacation, Ben and Louise befriend a British couple, Paddy (James McAvoy) and Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), and their son Ant (Dan Hough). Ant is unable to speak, and Paddy explains this is because he was born with a rare deformation that makes his tongue too small for his mouth. Paddy and Ciara invite Ben and Louise to come stay at their remote farmhouse in the English countryside. Ben and Louise—who are struggling with their marriage after Ben lost his job and Louise sexted a co-worker—accept the invitation.
Right away, Louise finds the British couple off-putting. Though they warmly welcome their guests, they also pushy—including forcing Louise, a vegetarian, to eat meat. And they are harsh on their son Ant, who Paddy pushes to “be a man.” Even though Ant can’t talk, he seems distressed. He shows Agnes bruises on his body and his father’s collection of watches. He also writes her message in Danish, which is weird, since his parents aren’t Danish. But to Agnes, it’s gibberish.
When Louise discovers her daughter Agnes sleeping in bed with Paddy and Ciara in the middle of the night, it’s the final straw. She convinces Ben to sneak away in the early hours of the morning.
The Daltons very nearly get away… until Agnes realizes she doesn’t have Hoppy. So they go back. Paddy and Ciara confront them for leaving without saying goodbye. They share a sob story about losing their daughter at a young age. Ciara says she heard Agnes crying in the night, and simply wanted to comfort her. The Daltons buy the story, and agree to continue their stay.
But the strange behavior continues. After an afternoon of drinking, Paddy berates Ant for dancing out of time in a dance routine he and Agnes planned. He roughly grabs Ant, and throws a mug at him. Ben and Louise intervene. Louise once again wants to leave, but Ben isn’t sober enough to drive. Ciara begs them to wait until Paddy’s had a chance to “save face,” in order to make the fallout easier for her.
While his dad is passed out drunk, Ant steals his keys. He shows Agnes a secret locked room, full of possessions and pictures of other families who came to stay with Paddy and Ciara. We see via photo albums that Ant is not their real son. That explains why he speaks Danish! Paddy and Ciara killed his parents, and kept him as their own. They cut out his tongue to prevent him from being able to speak of what they did. And it seems Ant is not the first child they’ve done that to.
Agnes takes a cell phone picture of the photo albums, and shows her parents. They come up with a plan to escape, by claiming Agnes has gotten her first period, is very freaked out, and wants to go home. After delaying them in various ways, Paddy lets the Daltons drive away. But as they do, Paddy pushes Ant—who, it’s been established, cannot swim—into a lake. Ben rescues Ant from the lake, and Paddy captures Agnes and Louise at gunpoint.
2024 Speak No Evil ending explained:
Paddy and Ciara forces the Daltons to transfer their life savings to them. Then they prep a dose of ketamine to drug Agnes, intending to cut out her tongue. However, the Daltons fight back, and manage to escape with Ant. They are prevented from leaving by Paddy’s accomplice, Mike (Kris Hitchen), so they barricade themselves inside the house. In the fight that ensues, Louise kills Mike, and the family and Ant run to escape via the roof.
Ciara—who claims she is one of Paddy’s first victims, and was taken at Agnes’s age—tries to stop the family’s escape, and falls to her death. A bloodied Paddy manages to get Agnes at gun point. Her parents are willing to give themselves up for her. But Agnes stabs Paddy with the ketamine injection, sedating him.
The family flees, prepared to leave Paddy unconscious on the ground. However, before they go, Ant violently beats his fake father’s face in with a brick. Paddy’s last words are, “That’s my boy,” which implies that he’s proud of Ant for following in his footsteps of being an aggressive, violent human being.
In the final scene of the movie, the Daltons drive away with Ant. Agnes offers Ant her Hoppy for comfort. Ant takes the bunny, and begins to cry. So maybe security stuffed animals aren’t such a bad thing, and maybe Ant won’t become a killer (again) when he grows up! With that, the movie ends.
Speak No Evil original ending:
The 2024 Speak No Evil is an American remake of the 2022 Danish movie of the same name, and the original Speak No Evil ending was not a happy one. Instead of the good guys getting away, the original Speak No Evil ended with the two psychopaths (named Patrick and Karin in the Danish film) successfully murdering the good guys. Patrick and Karin let the daughter, Agnes, live, but they cut out her tongue and adopt her as their own. The movie ends with Agnes playing the role of the mute daughter, as the killer couple targets their next victims.
But of course, here in America, we have to give movies a happy ending. The original Danish director, Christian Tafdrup, criticized the decision to change the ending on a Danish radio show.
“I don’t know what it is about Americans, but they are brought up for a heroic tale, where the good must win over the bad, and this version of the film cultivates that,” Tafdrup said.
Personally, I blame Walt Disney.