If I had never watched the original, I probably would have thought this was a solid thriller. Tldr; just go watch the better in every single way Danish version. 

Just a side note before I pan, James McAvoy was excellent as always and Ant was particularly good for a child actor. I literally love McAvoy so much, he is outstanding, but it seems like he rarely does films that are worthy of his talents. 

The og Speak No Evil was the most horrifying thing i’ve ever watched. After the credits rolled, we sat there in stunned silence. It is impossible to live up to, especially when there isn’t even the benefit of nostalgia (og came out two years ago). So, I already was a little skeptical. There is nothing wrong with this remake on a surface level. However, where the original is parabolic, this just guts all character substance for a shallow veneer. And then it wants to have its cake and eat it to by saying “because you let me.” No, the fuck they didn’t. This is a fundamentally different story that just hits the same plot beats. You can’t attempt to communicate with the audience on the same level with no build up because I’m going to laugh out loud.

Whereas the og family become sheep to their own slaughter, this version, I’m assuming, was meant to cater to the american sensibility that we would never crumble to psychological abuse (🙄). Interestingly, where the theme of social compliance/politeness is commonly explored through female characters in the face of violence (Woman of the Hour comes to mind) this is about the husband kind of browbeating and therapy-speaking his wife into accepting nothing is wrong. However, a potentially promising lead becomes muddled really quickly with strange writing, and the dad randomly becomes a non character who speaks like 10 words in the last 30 minutes. We also have the addition of the far younger child replacement wife being a victim/participant in the cycle that never even goes anywhere besides the dad saying “fuck her too” which did make me laugh. There’s the masculinity-off cowboy/scream scene also taken from the og, but that goes nowhere also.
In short, just a bunch of ideas with no payoff. There’s no subtlety either. You are smacked in the face with literally everything. 

This could have taken the bleak, devastating ending of the original and made it into something more satisfying, with the same lasting power. Instead we get McAvoy say some random lines I guess were Joe Rogan outtakes and an utterly generic and bland ending. There are plenty of cheap horror thrillers I love. But this cheapens something really good, so I hated it.