10 Clever Ways Horror Movies Foreshadow the Ending
6. The Note - Speak No Evil
Speak No Evil opens with Ben Dalton, his wife Louise, and their daughter Agnes befriending a British family - Paddy, Ciara, and their mute son Ant - while on vacation. After hitting it off, Ben's family agrees to stay at Paddy's farmhouse for the weekend, but due to Paddy and Ciara's hostile behaviour, the Daltons soon suspect their hosts have ulterior motives.
The Daltons' suspicions are proven correct when Ant shows Agnes a picture book that proves he's not their son. The book shows that Paddy and Ciara lure couples to their home, kill them, and pass their children off as their own to make it easier to befriend strangers. Though Paddy claimed Ant was born mute, he cut the boy's tongue off so he couldn't expose the psychotic couple's operation.
Though Ant can't speak, he tried to warn the family earlier. At one point, he writes a note to Agnes, which appears to be written in gibberish. However, anyone from Denmark should recognise Ant's note is in Danish, proving he's not Paddy or Ciara's son.
Even if viewers didn't recognise the language, they might've realised what Ant was trying to say, based on an earlier scene. The day before, Ant showed Agnes a watch collection in Paddy's bedroom. At first, it appears as if Ant is trying to bond with Agnes. In reality, he's warning her that each watch belongs to Paddy's victims. He points to one specific watch that has a Danish engraving on the inside, implying it belonged to Ant's father before Paddy killed him.