Writer-director Nicholas Bain has created a supernatural thriller with buckets of atmosphere in Voice of Shadows. An aging aunt, an inherited curse, and an ancient dwelling in a suburban street are the eerie setting for this slow burn horror. A fire and brimstone morality tale with lashings of repressed family trauma, that lay the groundwork for a brooding melodrama. Jane Hammill plays the creepy aunt Milda who welcomes her niece Emma (Corrinne Mica) over for a short stay, before falling foul of some mystery illness. Death, it seems, is the great redeemer, since Emma is gifted Milda’s estate shortly after if she fulfills some strange conditions. With her boyfriend Gabriel (Guillermo Blano) and his sister Celeste (Maria Jose Vargas Agudelo) in tow, they start to dig into Milda’s past and discover something truly horrifying.
To be clear, Voice of Shadows is not out to reinvent the wheel. It may rub shoulders with confirmed classics such as The Exorcist, but those comparisons are unlikely to do it any good. If anything, they offer audiences an idea of the ominous tone going in, where Nicholas Bain and his committed cast really deliver. With a camera that verges on the predatory, Voice of Shadows succeeds in capturing a sense of creeping dread that helps sell this tried and tested formula. Early on, Michael Paul Levin (Father John) helps to sell the demonic angle that everything hinges on giving everything a sense of reality. Obvious horror tropes may be employed to ramp up tension, including eerie basements, slamming doors, and a lack of available light – but things never drift into cliche.
The conviction behind performances from Guillermo Blanco and Corrinne Mica also elevates this material, while cinematographer Neil Murphy gives their old house its own character. Tales of possession are as old as time, and cults have been around for aeons spouting their scripture to ardent acolytes, so there is a rich vein to mine for filmmakers. Where Voice of Shadows neatly side steps greatness is in the endgame, where formula dictates both a cliffhanger final frame and easy resolution. Milda gets limited screen time, Celeste is reduced to writhing around in a dark room waiting to be possessed, while Gabriel and Emma chase their tails.
Trading on tension, establishing solid characters, and capturing atmosphere through the camera is where Voice of Shadows wins out. In terms of visual effects there is also much to be said for those possession scenes, even if a little more subtlety would have gone a long way. Flickering lights, practical in-camera moments, and some fleeting make-up might help to sell the illusion of horrific events – but somehow it feels over way too soon. If Michael Paul Levin had been a little more involved and had the opportunity to go beyond his religious archetype, then Voice of Shadows may have been more than a good pastiche and become great cinema. However, as it stands writer-director Nicholas Bain shows an admirable knowledge and passion for his horror roots but misses the mark in forging a stone cold classic to stand alongside The Exorcist.
Voice of Shadows will be available from December 2 on digital and streaming platforms from Trinity.