Name: Voices (1973) review
Item: Voices
Rating: 2
Author: Darren Evanson

Voices (1973) is a supernatural thriller directed by Kevin Billington. Starring real-life couple David Hemmings and Gayle Hunnicutt as Robert and Claire, it follows two people dealing with the accidental death of their son when Claire is discharged from a mental hospital. Robert is keen to rebuild their fractured relationship and they go to an abandoned mansion left to Claire in her aunt’s will. Probably not the best decision, when there is no electricity, water or telephone. Claire soon starts to hear the voices of a child and questions her sanity, while Robert is dismissive, bullish and unsympathetic.

Voices comes over as a depressing, overwrought exercise in domestic unraveling, both on screen and in real life. Hemmings and Hunnicutt divorced in 1975. With a twist lifted from Carnival of Souls (1962), it feels unsatisfactory on all levels. What should have been an acting powerhouse is stagey and poorly paced, and the fighting and blaming between the couple comes over as forced and unconvincing. Even the music by Richard Rodney Bennett feels laboured and dramatic for its own sake.

I am sure Voices must be a direct influence on The Others (2001). There are themes used in Voices that make up pretty much the whole outcome of Kidman’s ghostly drama.

Unfortunately Voices is a missed opportunity. It should at least have been interesting; it just ends up being frustrating.