By Danish filmmaker Christian Tafdrup, who helmed the 2022 psychological horror film “Gæsterne,” says he’s not happy about the recently released English-language remake of that film – James Watkins’ “Speak No Evil” from Blumhouse and Universal.
Both films revolve around a couple who meet another couple on a trip and are invited to the latter’s country house for a weekend holiday. The hosts soon begin to test the limits of their guests as the situation escalates.
Both films play with social commentary, dark comedy and horror but change things up significantly in the last act – the Danish film ends much more pessimistically as opposed to the U.S. film which is a more conventional approach.
Appearing on the Danish radio show Kulturen (via World of Reel), Tafdrup says he was unimpressed with the film and the change in tone from the more devastating original – especially the ending. He explains the changes that were made to the film made it feel “less dangerous” and designed to be more sanitized for American consumption:
“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. When I saw the film yesterday, I could see that they would never succeed with a film… [like] our film.
These people [in the U.S. version] must fight for their family and defeat the bad guys […] It is a kind of happy ending, and it is so deep in their culture that America must be able to handle it all.”
He noted the differing reactions – people left the remake “completely over-enthusiastic and clapped, laughed and whooped”. With his original film, people left “traumatized”.
It’s especially interesting in this case as the remake’s director Watkins notably delivered a film and ending even more brutal and bleak than Tafdrup’s film with his 2008 directorial debut “Eden Lake”.
Reviews for both versions aren’t far off each other with both well-received. So far the remake has grossed $23 million worldwide against a budget of $15 million.
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