Speak No Evil (2013) User Reviews

Where was the horror in all of this?...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 27 July 2014]

While the concept of demonic possessed children does have a certain sense of dread and horror about it, "Speak No Evil" didn't fully exploit the potential that it had at hand.

The story starts out a bit slow, but quickly picks up pace and gets into gear with lots of things happening. Although a lot is happening, it is not difficult to keep up with the story, because it is done chronologically and in a well-presented manner.

What didn't really work about the movie was that it came off as too shallow, as if the director didn't really delve into the many layers that were made available by the concept of the movie. And as such, the end result was a rather hollow experience at best.

The characters in the movie were fairly one-dimensional and never really got to portray any proper characteristics and that just made you didn't care about the protagonists or anyone else for that matter.

Acting-wise, then "Speak No Evil" was adequate, but the actors and actresses were fairly limited by the script and the direction. Again, the potential wasn't fully taken advantage of here either.

As for the ending. Well, let's just say that it was alright, although is very just oozing with a cliché ending for a horror movie. But the ending worked out well enough for what it was.

The best part of the movie had to be the children. I mean, demonic possessed children running rampart in a small town killing and maiming the inhabitants. And the eyes were actually one of the more interesting things about the entire movie. I liked the thing they had done with the children's eyes.

For a horror movie, then "Speak No Evil" was a fairly poor experience. It wasn't scary, nor was it particularly interesting or appealing.

I am rating the movie a mere 3 out of 10 stars.

Not for me.

[RatedVforVinny · 3/10 · 3 November 2018]

Dumb-ish zombie movie, that does not capture ones imagination. Run for cover!

All that screaming and no horror.

[rushknight · 4/10 · 28 February 2015]

For such a small budget, this film delivers fairly well. The actors made do with what they were given and carried it along smoothly.

Acting isn't the only spice required in a good film. Plot is important also, and here it's thin at best. I actually like that they didn't bother to try explaining things. It gets pretty cliché to me when the writers throw in some convenient explanation delivered by some Native American medicine man, or some psychic who is drawn into the area by the bad vibes, or the crazy old priest who used to read up on demonology in his early days... You've seen it. They didn't bother with it this time, and that was actually fairly refreshing to me.

Unfortunately, those are the only two points I can make that work for this film. The rest is fairly sub par. Overall, the film fails to pull you in because it superficially makes use of everything else. There is no depth to the development of the characters or treatment of the environment.

What do I mean by that? Let me give some examples.

For starters, the director relies heavily on shaky camera work. This sort of thing is designed to pull you into the action, but at it's worst it fails to give you a lasting impressions because you haven't really seen anything at all! You've only seen shaky flashes of action, bits and pieces of character expression, etc. Nothing sticks because you fly through it too quickly. Hence, it means very little to the viewer.

Secondly, the sound is heavy and brooding, ALL THE TIME. Despite what some reviewers say about things starting slowly, the reality is that in terms of music and ambient sound, there is simply no room to breathe at all. From start to finish it's the same thing. It's like having a weight put on your shoulders all day long, after a while you get used to it and then you don't think about it any more. So without that change of ambiance, everything sort of blends together, nothing is distinct and new.

Thirdly, the children are under represented. Even though this movie is about possessed children, they seem to fall by the wayside in terms of importance. They are all dressed the same. They all have the same make-up on. They all act the same. Most all the girls are blonds, most all the boys have longish hair (with the exception of one boy who seems to have a mohawk or something). Each kid, including the heroine's daughter, gets precious little screen time. Only perhaps two children in the entire movie get any lines (and they are short). Their faces are almost never really focused on, and even when they are the make-up gets in the way. Couple that with the shaky camera work and you almost never really truly see them at all! ***Small spoiler included in next line*** What we have here is the objectification and eventual dehumanization of all the children in the film. It's easy to kill what you don't consider worthy of your affection. It makes it a simple thing to dismiss the fact that children are being killed, and if you don't care about them then there's no real point to the movie.

Absolutely Terrible

[martine-59352 · 1/10 · 8 May 2017]

I had to register just so that I could comment on this movie. It is utter trash and if I can help one soul, PLEASE do not watch this. Watching movies on Netflix, I usually do a search on IMDb first, and if the movie is at least 5.0/10, I will watch it. For some reason, I didn't search this movie in IMDb.com before watching. What a mistake. With a 3.7/10 rating at the time of this post, this was 1 hour of my life I'd like back.

Even though I posted that there aren't any spoilers, I think there is 1 spoiler...If you rented or started watching this on Netflix, that is a guaranteed evening spoiler.

No character development. No dialogue. No rational thinking by characters...nothing. But the actors/actresses did their best with what they had, and I'd have to give them a 5/10 for that. Everything else should be a zero, but the lowest I can rate is 1...unfortunately.

What the hell did I just watch

[jessraven2 · 1/10 · 10 January 2015]

So I thought this was a different movie.. the 2014 new release. But it caught my attention because it was shot in Apache Junction where I live. I recognized Superstition Mountain immediately and at the end the Motel 6 off of the 60 by Waffle House. The name of this movie should have been Joey.. because that's about all I heard throughout the whole hour and a half. The lead actress was good, but her character was slow, clumsy and irritating. The characters thought processes were that of special ed students.. nothing was thought through, decisions took forever to make and when they were made, they were the wrong ones. Don't waste your money.

Lame indie horror/mystery

[Leofwine_draca · 1/10 · 18 January 2018]

SPEAK NO EVIL is an indie horror/mystery with a small town setting. The story, which isn't bad, is about the disappearance of a number of innocent kids who soon return to their families, somehow...changed. There are a few minor grisly moments but mostly this is amateurish boredom with unconvincing actors struggling through underwritten parts. Generally, this is a poor addition to the 'killer kid' genre.

😈 devil

[andrewchatterton-54856 · 3/10 · 3 January 2022]

This movie was funny lots of possessions crazy kids.running around killing adults.as mom tries to save her daughter.was more a comedy than a horror movie but still not to bad.

Half the dialogue is kids screaming

[mangomangomango · 1/10 · 25 April 2015]

The first minute of this movie is promising it. It has the only moments of horror and suspense you find in this entire movie. If you turned it off from there you'd walk away with a better experience.

The characters in this movie are all EXTREMELY annoying. However acting from the kids is by far the greatest horror of this film. Their insentient never-ending screaming is obnoxious and rude to the viewers. Do we really need 10 straight minutes of kids yelling and screaming in unison?? The special effects consists of motor oil dripping from the kids mouths when they aren't screaming. The other scenes ramble on pointlessly. After a while fast forwarding becomes essential. Don't waste your time.

Speaks in tongues

[seven-johnson · 8/10 · 23 July 2014]

This may look like some generic horror, but it's better than that. I just expected a dull para/slasher that I could stick on in the background whilst doing some real-life stuff.

I kind of missed the beginning, this film started to grab me about 20 minutes in, there's some nice touches in the camera work - more than competent, visually this is a cut above the rest, the soundtrack tethers well to the "action" - another thing I liked, there was a much more low-key approach to the meat and gristle of the movie and some very effective costuming.

Would watch again :)

Spoilers follow ...

[parry_na · 7/10 · 28 September 2017]

I found this to be a genuinely surprising horror; not that possessed children is a particularly new concept, but rather in the way their threat is treated and revealed to us. In the opening moments, a flurry of activity involving a briefly seen horned creature abducting young Joey Girl (Olivier Cavender) from her trailer park home occurs while her mum Anna (Gabrielle Stone) is in bed with her current beau Creighton (Carl Jensen IV). At first it seems that her wayward past has made Anna into a scapegoat for judgemental and very religious townsfolk, who assume she is simply a bad parent and Joey has run away – but it's a different story when all the children in the neighbourhood disappear too. And then one day, they come back.

Yet something is wrong and the children become increasingly feral. Joey, the only injured youngster, has had her tongue removed and soon begins to exhibit sporadic possessed episodes that increase in frequency. Soon the whole town is in the grip of fear and marauding, demonic youngsters. Things have reached this point so quickly, as does the descent into animal behaviour as the possession grows in intensity; events become hard to follow. But I get the feeling this is a deliberate decision of behalf of Director/Writer Roze to highlight the sense of chaos such a rapid decline has caused.

Children – apart from Joey – are rarely treated as individuals, rather a pack of animalistic hooligans. Pivotal moments like the death of loyal, quiet Creighton happen quickly and without fanfare. Blink and you'll miss it. This approach is highly unusual in general, and for horror in particular, where such moments of graphic violence and spectacle are usually dwelt upon. Here, we waste no time on incidents – rather, we cut away and move onto the next occurrence.

I enjoyed this unusual, choppy film. The very simple effect of hollow eyed children with black vomit around their faces and clothes is extremely effective – as is the briefly seen demon itself.

Well done for 150k!

[fallguy_jack · 8/10 · 20 July 2014]

Totally not what I thought, quality-wise anyway.

I'm trying to review this in a way that won't bias you going in. So don't start with high expectations and it will work out as a better experience.

It's runtime is a bit over an hour, but that's not at all what it feels like.

For a $150,000 budget, I expected a lot less. Maybe the director/writer didn't take any immediate pay. Either way, 8/10 for this product on that budget.

Roze maybe could have used some help with the writing, but it isn't bad, I've seen far worse from plenty of big budget movies.

As far as direction goes, put Christopher Nolan on video instruction manuals and sub in Roze FTW. After watching, imagine what this guy could do with 150 mil... (vid manuals are more than Nolan deserves). I'm going to watch his earlier works, even though according to reviews, it seems that the writing needed more work then too, maybe he got better lol.