What is the work?[]
Speak No Evil, an insufferable 2022 psychological horror film about a Danish couple being invited to a rural house by a Dutch family. Surely nothing bad can go wrong, right?
Who are they? What have they done?[]
Patrick and Karin are a seemingly normal pair of spouses and the parents of Abel, a boy who was diagnosed with congenital aglossia, aka born without a tongue (but we will get back to that later). Despite their differences, Patrick and Karin strike up a friendship with Bjorn and Louise. When they suggest that they come live with them in a rural house they owned in the Netherlands, it is there where a lot of the craziness goes down. For instance, Patrick critiques Louise's claim to vegetarianism even though she pointed out that she ate fish. They play loud music, kiss each other inappropriately in front of their "family friends," and openly abuse Abel and swear up a storm.
When a naked Patrick winds up sleeping in bed with Bjorn and Louise's daughter Agnes, that proved to be the final straw and they leave without a notice. But... they accidentally forget Agnes' toy rabbit which means... going back to the house (smh). After they are confronted again by Patrick and Karin, things seem to go well again, with the Dutch couple apologizing for their behavior with Patrick even assisting Bjorn in scream therapy, things further go down to s*it when Bjorn discovers a cabin wherein there are several luggage and cameras revealing the horrid truth behind them: Patrick and Karin are a pair of psychopathic serial killers who prey on families, particularly those that are weaker-willed, and kill them. The children are kidnapped and their tongues are cut out much like what happened with Abel.
Anytime they find new prey, they would also kill the children with Abel being drowned in the pool. And yet for some godforsaken reason, Bjorn apparently did not think it was a good idea to warn his wife about the Dutch couple being murderous. As such, Louise goes along with Karin unaware that she was riding with a dangerous woman. This would lead to the brutal moment of Agnes getting her tongue cut out.
When Bjorn asks them why they were doing this to them, Patrick bluntly tells him it was because he was giving him permission to because of their passivity. They are then ordered to get into a ditch, undress, and they are stoned to death trying to shield each other from the heavy rocks.
The film ends with the spouses looking to prey on the next unsuspecting family with Agnes now in the place of Abel. Who knows how long she will last.
Heinous standard?[]
They are a pair of prolific serial killers who psychologically abuse their victims, rip out the tongues of children that they will kill later. And the process repeats itself ad infinitum.
Mitigating factors? Freudian Excuse?[]
There's not really any indication of genuine affection between the couple other than both of them loving to kill and mutilate their victims. We are given no explanation for their motivations, but even then, there is nothing redeeming. They verbally abuse Abel and kill him with the reveal that he was not even the first child they had kidnapped after ensuring they could not speak out about their circumstances.