Why so much hype?

The Age of Commercialism

good back-story, and good acting

Fresh and Exciting

Rather dreary British-made ghost story involves a bickering couple hoping to restart their marriage after a long period of mourning over the death of their child, who drowned while on a family outing at the lake. The wife, who later slashed her wrists and was institutionalized, blames herself and her husband for their son's accident (they were making love instead of watching him), while the husband feels the past is dead and it's time to move on. After the wife inherits her aunt's isolated estate, the shaky twosome drive out to the fog-enshrouded countryside to spend some time together, but she is unnerved from the moment they arrive--and is alone in hearing a child's giggle coming from the next room. Quite obviously adapted from a play, this talk-heavy piece hits an early wall in the first act with the husband (David Hemmings) making numerous attempts to warm up his spouse (Gayle Hunnicutt), while she alternately invites his advances and pushes him away. The material might have been more tolerable if the set wasn't such a gloomy eyesore--and if Hunnicutt's character wasn't so impossibly mercurial. For those who stick with it, there's a plot twist in Act Three that is successfully pulled off, although it renders much of the rest of the picture pointless. George Kirgo and Robert Enders (also the producer) adapted Richard Lortz's play, which ran on Broadway for a scant eight performances. ** from ****

Although the other reviewers of Voices seemed to have liked it, I found this stagebound drama to be a bore. While on a boating vacation, a young boy disappears. He is assumed to have drown. The boy's parents (David Hemmings and Gayle Hunnicutt) were making love when the boy wandered off, so a strong feeling of guilt hangs over the surviving couple. Claire, the mother, eventually has to be committed after trying to kill herself. Just out of the hospital, the husband, Robert, has taken her to country to get away. While in the hospital, Claire inherited a country manor. The house is dusty and a dense fog hovers outside the house. However, the atmosphere is more chilly between the couple, who repeatedly reopen old wounds. Then, there is the matter of the voices that Claire is hearing in the house. Is the house haunted or is her illness back or is there something else going on? Admittedly, I started watching Voices thinking it was a horror film, which it is not, but I had a hard time finishing the film, in spite of its short running time. Based on a play, Voices is a talkfest where a couple bickers endlessly until there is a surprise ending, and this one does not seem too surprising any more. Admittedly, David Hemmings and Gayle Hunnicutt are both fine and any interest that I had was because of their performances, but, after a while, I just wanted them both to shut up. I will confess to not liking movies (or plays) like this. I did care much for The Pumpkin Eater or Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? either. Viewers with more patience for that type of drama may like Voices more than I did.

****SPOILERS*** Since the couples-Robert & Clair-played by David Hemmings & Gayle Hunnicutt-8 year old son David, Adam Bridge, drowned after slipping off a waterfall at a local river Clair ended up in a mental infatuation suffering from deep depression in feeling that she somehow was responsible for his death. It's now two years later and Clair's husband Robert feels that a weekend in the country will help her overcome her guilt and get her back to normal. Driving to the out of the way mansion in the woods the couple have a near accident on the road due to the heavy fog that unsettles them and has the already unstable Clair want to turn back feeling that it's ,the near accident, an warning of things to come; She couldn't have been more right! Creepy story about a woman-Clair-flipping out of her skull by hearing voices and seeing things that causes her at the time more or less stable husband-Robert-to almost join her. With no heat or electricity as well as running water in the mansion it makes one wonder why Robert would choose this place to help cure his wife's paranoia? constantly hearing voices as well as later seeing people in the place has Clair ready to be re-committed. But Robert wants to cure her in his own way by confronting what's driving her nuts that's soon causing him to lose it as well! ****SPOILERS****After spending an horrific night at the mansion It's finally decided by Robert to go along with his wife's wishes and to leave the place as soon as possible or as the sun comes up. With Robert going to get the car Clair can't wait any longer and runs out of the mansion to meet him. And it's there that the two both meet the fate which they were totally unaware of that brought them there in the very first place!

I got this film because I like David Hemmings. He was just starting to lose his looks at this point. At first I thought, isn't this supposed to be a horror movie? His character seems rather cruel, but not supernatural scary. I thought maybe he was behind the events, trying to drive her mad. The flashbacks to the mental hospital were the most horrible part, I thought. The things they did to people there.... It's not graphic, but just the idea of one's rights being taken away and then some doctor almost experimenting on you.... It seemed too convenient that she would inherit an old house way out in the woods like that. WARNING WARNING, SPOILER HERE: I suspect the people who made Nicole Kidman's "The Others" had seen this film. Also "Beetlejuice"! However, the writer of this story may have been inspired by that Twilight Zone with the three astronauts going thru the motions again and again, I think with Jack Klugman. The time travel aspect did not make sense to me at all.