The Voices (2014)

 

Genre: Horror/ Comedy

Time: 1h 47mins

Director: Marjane Satrapi

Quick Summary: A likeable guy pursues his office crush with help from his evil talking pets, but things turn sinister when she stands him up for a date.

I'm pretty sure any person who has owned a cat has experienced this. Right? 

One of the most interesting parts of this is its exploration of mental illness and the blurred lines between reality and fantasy that people can experience. You're taken on a rollercoaster ride through this guy's perspective, witnessing his interactions with talking animals that represent his conscience; a soft and kind dog, and a sinister cat. Honestly, they were both hilarious and being voiced by Ryan Reynolds it made them even funnier. Watching these two bicker and try to convince him to do or not murder people was brilliant, though it also gives a chilling insight into our main guy's fractured psyche.

I did like how everything was vibrant and cheery when we were looking through his perspective like nothing was wrong, then flipped it when we saw the reality. Dull, dark, and honestly pretty grim in a few places. Sadly we don't get a ton of these comparisons. Honestly, I feel like it would have improved this quite a bit if we did. 

Some of the humour was a bit misplaced at times, like one of the women being the most stereotypical British woman you could ever meet. However, it could boil down to it being the guy's idea of British people. Regardless, a lot of the jokes fell very flat with her.

The gore side of things felt like a bit of a let down too, as a lot of kids were just meh. Or not even shown to my disappointment. The sound design was brutal at times, especially in one kill scene where we hear a loud crunch as someone is thrown back. 

I think what makes our main guy so likeable (aside from Ryan's natural charm), is that he is very innocent and really wants to live a normal life. His personality is very likeable and honestly cutely awkward at times. What the viewer sees is a guy who is trying his best. So in turn you do feel bad for what happens throughout this.

This isn't very thought-provoking or mind-blowing, but it is fun. If you want something to pass the time and is enjoyable, I'd give this a go as I'm sure you'll get a few laughs out of it. 

6/10

"Mr. Whiskers: Well, that’s one step away from the looney bin."