I viewed this film via digital screener as part of Sundance 2022.

At the last possible minute, I purchased a ticket to Speak No Evil based solely on the fact that viewers of the previous screening were proclaiming it as one of the bleakest, ugliest, meanest movies ever made. Now, I'm well aware that festival hyperbole is unavoidable and people say the same thing about Martyrs (a movie that does absolutely nothing for me), but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to watch some truly fucked-up cinema.

Speak No Evil falls on the opposite end of the transgressive spectrum than what I tend to enjoy. The protagonists are such knuckleheaded, passive cowards that I found myself more annoyed than unsettled. I totally understand why those who love it love it, though. It's very Funny Games-ish, and the third act reveal is admittedly very twisted.

It's just that movies with protagonists who just let shit happen to them without ever really fighting back irritate the fuck out of me.