We spoke to Blumhouse producer Beatriz Sequeira leading up to the release of Speak No Evil, a buzzy new psychological thriller that is being especially praised for the reliably superb James McAvoy’s performance. It hits theaters tomorrow, Sep. 13, and Sequeira — who serves as executive producer on the film — has been keeping busy with other highly anticipated projects by Blumhouse, such as Five Nights at Freddy’s 2. “I am able to share that we release it in December next year, and that it’s going to be great,” she told MovieWeb, adding:
“It’s a sequel, so it’s bigger, better, scarier, all of it. It’s gonna be great. I mean, it’s such an incredible movie because of the fandom, so I’ve never experienced anything like that, of
how loyal the fans are and how invested
… The energy is just great, like, of how passionate the fans are. It’s sort of humbling. It’s like, ‘Oh, we really need to do a good job to make sure that they’re happy with it!'”
That’s not the only big upcoming Blumhouse release that Sequeira is producing. She also shared an update about Wolf Man, and gave a simple but understandable reaction to Christopher Abbott replacing Ryan Gosling on the film: “To be perfectly honest, I think it’s just one of those things that — the movie evolves. And, you know, we have an incredible version with [director] Leigh [Whannell] and Chris and Julia Gardner. And I think that’s what we need to focus on. This is the movie , and it’s coming out on January 17, 2025.”
Speak No Evil Is Getting Big Blumhouse Hype
Blumhouse Productions is usually a leader in the horror genre, but it’s had a pretty weak year with audiences and critics. Its previous films of the year, Afraid, Imaginary, and Night Swim, have not been in the same league as the studio’s many great horror movies (Get Out, M3GAN, Creep, The Invisible Man, The Black Phone, Hush, Sinister, The Purge, Paranormal Activity). But with the Sep. 13 release of Speak No Evil, the studio has stirred up a good dreal of excitement, despite the film being a remake of a movie released only two years ago.
A lot of that excitement is a result of James McAvoy, who is said to give an unhinged performance like we haven’t seen (and considering his work in Split and Glass, that’s saying something). In his review of Speak No Evil, MovieWeb’s Will Sayre said of his performance:
”
McAvoy is a force to be reckoned with
. A whole book could be written about his mastery of psychotic or just unstable characters over the years, and at times, McAvoy’s Paddy seems to manifest all 23 personalities from his
Split/Glass
films from M. Night Shyamalan simultaneously.
It’s a pressure cooker of a performance
, with the award-winning Scottish actor at times simply looking like he’s going to burst. And these moments don’t even necessarily come during horrific, blood-soaked ones, but rather during some more dialogue-heavy, otherwise unassuming ones.”
Even his co-star in the film, Scoot McNairy, was wowed and disturbed in equal measure by McAvoy. See what he had to say in his MovieWeb interview below:
