By Becca Johnson - November 24, 2024
A directorial debut from Nicholas Bain and starring Guillermo Blanco, Corrinne Mica and Bee Vang, Voice of Shadows is a mystery horror flick offering up religious, supernatural scares. The movie follows a young working class woman who stands to inherit an estate. However, this becomes more of a challenge than expected, as her and her boyfriend must abide by a set of bizarre stipulations in order to stay there.
Voice of Shadows, despite offering up a few decent twists and a solid lead performance, heavily falls victim to generic scares and subpar dialogue which hinders its overall impact.
For a film with a modest budget and from a first-time director, Voice of Shadows has much competent filmmaking on display. The practical effects are rather good, with the third act offering up plenty of realistic visuals and believable spooky imagery once the horror kicks into gear. One scene in particular involving fire is admirably well done. Furthermore, the actors are mostly well directed by Bain, particularly lead Guillermo Blanco who gives a great performance as Gabriel. Creating a flawed yet likable lead character who is intriguing to follow, Blanco succeeds at both making us feel sorry for him due to his girlfriends change in personality after spending time at the house, and a little suspicious of him whilst we try to put the pieces together. There are times where the sound mixing leaves a little to be desired as the dialogue is occasionally hard to catch, and the cinematography doesn’t offer up anything overly engaging, but for the most part, Voice of Shadows shows great promise in its filmmaking, with Bain impressing.
The storyline on offer from Voice of Shadows is a mixed bag. The slow burn will likely impress some and hinder enjoyment for others, as it does take a meticulous approach with its plot points, refraining from showing all its cards at once. It takes a while to get going, with a few scenes during the first couple of acts that feel unnecessarily drawn out. It undeniably pays off in terms of its climax, as the third act is easily when this is at its best. The horror increases, the visuals impress and enough entertainment and spooky action is provided for the slower pace to feel worth it. The mystery on display is just fine, not managing to completely suck you in due to being a little overcomplicated but creating enough intrigue to prevent you from tuning out entirely. There are a couple of twists and turns that may genuinely manage to take you by surprise, which is what gives Voice of Shadows some edge in this heavily saturated sub-genre. The script is lacklustre in dialogue as its basic, bland and oftentimes uninteresting, but the attempts to add in some deeper themes are admirable. It definitely could’ve added some more detail in most aspects, from its theme of religion and social class to character development, but what it does provide is just enough to chew on. The narrative follows a well-trodden path making it feel more familiar than we’d hope and some twists are predictable, but there should be enough within this storyline to impress most viewers.
Unfortunately, the most disappointing element of Voice of Shadows is the horror, which is what most will likely be watching for in the first place. Credit where its due, there is a tangible sense of atmosphere throughout that builds as the plot progresses, and as mentioned, there are some excellent effects during the third act that increase the fear factor tenfold. However, the rest of the run-time really struggles with its spooky elements, providing the most generic of scares that we’ve seen time and time again. Littered with creaking floorboards, poorly executed jump scares, chairs rocking and things going bump in the night, it really loses creativity when crafting its scares. Even the score feels reminiscent of many horror films that’ve come before it. Due to the familiarity of the scares, the plot becomes all the more predictable, with seasoned horror fans likely to leave the experience underwhelmed.
Voice of Shadows is best described as a middling affair. The lead performance from Blanco helps keep things afloat, and the mystery within the script may leave some wanting to hang around until the end for answers. It has an eerie atmosphere, some engaging twists and decent practical effects during the latter half. Unfortunately, the uninventive scares and lack of exploration into its themes and characters prevent Voice of Shadows from hitting a home run. The slow pace won’t be for everyone, and the familiarity of the horror and plot renders it unmemorable
Voice of Shadows releases on digital platforms December 2
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