“Voice of Shadows” has the benefit of a truly intriguing trailer that should interest viewers. It appears to be a classic horror film dealing with a possibly haunted house and an elderly woman named “Milda” (Jane Hammill) who lives in it. And dies in it, willing the house to her niece Emma (Corinne Mica). There’s also a claim that Milda has “died twice” and a poorly explained tie to occult goings-on in the past.
The tag line for the film was, “A young working class woman stands to inherit an estate if she and her boyfriend abide by a set of bizarre stipulations.” The film was written and directed by Nicholas Bain (as Nick Bain) and shot in Minnesota—a surprise, as the house and setting seemed more European than American, but, then, Nick Bain is originally from Minnesota, which he left in 2014 to travel to Los Angeles to make movies.
THE GOOD
Right now, horror is an extremely hot genre. (It makes me think I should do something more with my screenplay for the three-novel set “The Color of Evil.”) If Nick Bain can write this script, mine might have a chance. The good news for me is that this script gives me hope for my own to succeed. “If this one can, my script can.” [That isn’t necessarily good news as my commentary on the script for “Voice of Shadows.”]
The cinematography by Neil Murphy and the music by Utkucan Eken and Elif Karlidag was quite good at setting the spooky overall mood. Trailer totally sucked me in. (Read on, to see if that first peek pays off).
The acting was adequate. We won’t be seeing any of the actors or actresses at the Oscars, but horror is a hard sell to the Academy.
The length of the movie, at 90 minutes, was like “the old days,” a welcome relief from the 3-hour marathon recent films. Bravo!
The house set was impressive, but the time the movie is supposed to take place in is a mystery. The old rotary dial phone would indicate long ago, but we never really find out.
The visual effects by Jeff Sardar were fine. The visual effects won the film an award at the Los Angeles Crime and Horror Film Festival. Having black stuff come out of the heroine’s mouth isn’t that new a visual effect, but it still works. For that matter, the film has had three wins and four nominations, with the Latitude Film Awards and the Romford Horror Festival naming it Best Feature Film.
THE BAD
Voice of Shadows poster, featuring Aunt Milda
Guillermo Blanco (The Queen of Flow”) plays the lead of Gabriel. It seems that Milda, the old woman who owns the house, doesn’t like Gabriel. One of the “bizarre stipulations” that Milda has put on the inheritance of her impressive house by her niece Emma is that Gabriel never stay there—not even for one night. Given the “plot spill” that the script begins with, where Gabriel is in the confessional and confesses to being a murderer (for good reasons as he lays out the case for the first murder) that scene makes Gabriel’s first murder initially seem reasonable, (just as the old television series “Dexter” used to justify Dexter’s homicidal acts with a variety of plausible excuses.)
Gabriel’s character throughout is difficult for the audience to figure out. He is swilling liquor from a bottle while in the confessional. We can conclude from that that he drinks too much (and in the wrong places). That certainly might influence his decision-making. But Gabriel still seems very willing to murder people at a moment’s notice. The worst assault was a fellow named Ernest (Martin Harris). Gabriel’s motives for plunging a knife into Ernest are unclear; the screenplay goes downhill from there. I wanted to sympathize with and like Gabriel, because he initially seemed like a good fellow and Milda’s instant dislike for him appeared to be petty jealousy, but murdering multiple people with little or no motivation was a bit much, even for me.
The acting by female lead Corinne Mica (“Always, Lola”) as Emma and Maria Jose Vargas Aguidelo as Celeste and Guillermo Blanco as Gabriel was adequate. I thought that Father John, played by Michael Paul Levin was stronger in his supporting part. Bee Vang (“Stranger Things,” “Gran Torino”) plays Father James.
PLOT REVEALS
There was a lot of information dumped on the audience, beginning with the very first confessional scene. Too much telling and not enough showing. I’ve written scripts. A couple of them have even won awards. It’s better to assume the audience is savvy enough to put two-and-two together than to have your main characters ranting on about why they did this or why they did that in a long monologue.
It’s easy to see that Emma’s character and behavior is changing once her Aunt Milda leaves her the house. Emma begins disappearing with Ernesto to “the art gallery.” As a general criticism, most of the climactic scenes in the film—murders and the like—either have no explanation or are overly explained. So, for me, the script needed work.
There was nothing super original or new in the film, but the trailer is very well-done. As horror movies go, “Voice of Shadows” (the title made me think of “Stir of Echoes”) was a good effort with some inexplicable plot directions that might need rethinking or refining.
VOICE OF SHADOWS will arrive September 17 on digital and streaming platforms, including iTunes/Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Fandango at Home, Vimeo, and local cable & satellite providers.
VOICE OF SHADOWS
Directed by: Nicholas Bain
Written by: Nicholas Bain
Starring: Guillermo Blanco, Corrinne Mica, Bee Vang, Michael Paul Levin, Martin Harris
Produced by: Guillermo Blanco, Martin Harris, Jamie Roberts
Executive Producers: Nick Breid, Todd R. Johnson, Dan Lehto,
Stephen McGraw, Nicholas Bain
Associate Producers: Matthew Fahey, Matt Roy
Cinematography by: Neil Murphy
Edited by: Mark Ferris
Music Composed by: Utkucan Eken, Elif Karlidag
USA I 2024 I Horror, Thriller I 90 minutes | NR