"Voices" is a decent South Korean entry into the third After Dark Horrorfest. While the story is not a particularly great one, it does entertain, combining familial horror, doom and gloom atmosphere, over the top gore, and oppressive music by Jun-seok Kim. It concerns a teenage girl, Ga-in (Jin-Seo Yoon), with a good life as a model student, with a loyal boyfriend, and loving parents. However, the family is attending a wedding when the bride is suddenly thrown from a balcony by her sister. Later, the sister goes a step further and butchers the bride in her hospital bed! Ga-in understands that death is now all around her, and friends, foes & family alike seem to want to do her in. She desperately seeks answers.
At the very least, this kept this viewer watching as it unlaid this nasty yarn. Yoon delivers a haunted, vulnerable performance in the lead, and is surrounded by a good supporting cast. The director, Ki-hwan Oh, gives the movie good pacing, and some memorable visuals. On the surface, the film seems to be nonsensical, but ultimately it isn't too hard to figure out. Ga-in, who has every right to be paranoid, learns some hard truths about the situation, and how relentlessly she and those around her are being manipulated. It gives the scenario, which was apparently derived from a comic book, a bleak, hopeless feel; while some room is left for humour at the outset, director Oh and company commit to crafting a bizarre and downbeat picture that never really loses its grip. They don't go out of their way to explain or clarify everything, but they made a film that still manages to live up to the word "horror".
Seven out of 10.
At the very least, this kept this viewer watching as it unlaid this nasty yarn. Yoon delivers a haunted, vulnerable performance in the lead, and is surrounded by a good supporting cast. The director, Ki-hwan Oh, gives the movie good pacing, and some memorable visuals. On the surface, the film seems to be nonsensical, but ultimately it isn't too hard to figure out. Ga-in, who has every right to be paranoid, learns some hard truths about the situation, and how relentlessly she and those around her are being manipulated. It gives the scenario, which was apparently derived from a comic book, a bleak, hopeless feel; while some room is left for humour at the outset, director Oh and company commit to crafting a bizarre and downbeat picture that never really loses its grip. They don't go out of their way to explain or clarify everything, but they made a film that still manages to live up to the word "horror".
Seven out of 10.