Voices (1973)

After her young son accidentally drowns, a woman has a breakdown and is finally placed in a mental hospital. After her release, her husband takes her for a weekend at a secluded country ... See full summary »

Director:

Kevin Billington

Writers:

Richard Lortz (play), George Kirgo (screenplay),

Stars:

David Hemmings, Gayle Hunnicutt, Lynn Farleigh

Cast

Complete credited cast:
David Hemmings	...	Robert
Gayle Hunnicutt	...	Claire
Lynn Farleigh	...	The Mother
Russell Lewis	...	John
Eva Griffiths	...	Jessica
Peggy Ann Clifford	...	The Medium
Adam Bridge	...	David

Storyline

After her young son accidentally drowns, a woman has a breakdown and is finally placed in a mental hospital. After her release, her husband takes her for a weekend at a secluded country mansion, hoping to help her recover. However, things at the mansion aren't quite what they seem to be, the couple begin to feel an uneasy and oppressive presence, and the mother starts to see things that may, or may not, be hallucinations.

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Plot Keywords:

loss of child | death of child | based on play | independent film

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 May 1974 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Nightmare

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hemdale Film, Warden

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

The original Broadway production of "Voices" by Richard Lortz opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theater on April 3, 1972 and ran for 8 performances.

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Connections

Remake of Armchair Theatre: The Others (1970)

User Reviews

Obscure thriller has a great atmosphere.

This movie is quite difficult to locate, which is a shame for horror fans. In the past couple of years, more sophisticated films such as "What Lies Beneath" and "The Sixth Sense" have been giving scary movies a good name. "Voices" is from this class of thriller because it achieves its shocks through the use of story and character interaction, with an ending that leaves you wondering and frightened for days. It is a simple story about a young British couple who want to get away for a short, romantic vacation in a secluded area of rural England. The destination is unfamiliar to both, and the journey there is ripe with dialogue so realistic and ordinary (plain conversation, arguments, reconciliations) that one might initially think "Voices" is an arty, ad-libbed drama as opposed to a horror flick. This mundane aspect is all a ploy to throw the viewer off, however. Once the young lovers find the vacation house, the mood shifts eerily and the sense of something threatening and supernatural surrounds the couple. They become frustrated, confused and hateful towards each other as their romantic weekend slips through their fingers amidst a haunting neither one can identify. The audience are left equally bewildered, because there is no standard, knife-wielding lunatic creeping outside,and there is no demon locked in the cellar. There is merely this sense of accelerating decline in the characters that is fascinating to observe, and we find ourselves needing to know what happened en route that has resulted in this bizarre situation. Ultimately, the final ten minutes of the film answers all of our questions and makes the subtleties we were puzzling over seem more profound...and the couple themselves discover it as we do, with just as much sense of terror.

Submitted by Penny Dreadful, Halifax, Nova Scotia.