'Speak No Evil' director compares movie moment with 'Stranger Things'

Speak No Evil writer and director James Watkins aimed to follow the example of Stranger Things in one aspect.

In Speak No Evil, Watkins added a scene where James McAvoy’s character Paddy sings the Eternal Flame. The director noted that he hopes it will play out the way Stranger Things revived Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill.

He told Deadline: “I hope that something interesting happens. I wonder if it will change people [laughs]. It might have a moment like when Stranger Things revived Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill. That song gives Ben and Paddy this weird energy while going against the moment on screen. There’s a kind of friction between the song and the moment that creates this humor. It just felt right to use the song.”

When asked how he got Split star James to sing, he replied: “James was such a good sport about it. I had the song in mind very early. I was thinking, trying to find the song, and I thought, ‘Oh, it’s got to be this.’ So, when we shot it, I don’t think we’d even cleared the rights.”

Speak No Evil is a remake of the original Danish film of the same name. The plot follows a a married couple, Louise (Mackenzie Davis) and Ben (Scoot McNairy), who have a daughter and are visiting England. During their vacation, they meet another couple Paddy (James McAvoy) and Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), who have a son. Paddy and Ciara invite them to stay at their farmhouse, and the couple accept. However, during their stay with the English couple, the duo realize that their hosts are dangerous.