Customer Reviews

Voices

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"Voices" is a creepy, supernatural thriller revolving around the paranoid belief that those dearest to you may want you dead. Interestingly it's based on the best-selling Korean manga "Two will come" which I read a few years back. I loved the plot, the clever direction, the beautiful cinematography and the many visceral thrills that give us gore fans plenty of eye candy.

I saw the film in a theater in January and the main reason I relate to the story is that every day you read in the news papers and see on TV how husbands kill their wives, brothers kill their sisters and parents kill their children. This film smartly exploits the fear that this could happen to you.

I love Asian horror films and this is clearly the best and most original one to come out of Korea in the past year or two and the strongest film from this year's "8 films to die for" series.

Sometimes I think that many reviewers are simply too lazy to understand films with indirect communication. I've heard people complain that "Asian horror movies don't make sense", which is usually just a roundabout way of saying, "I'm too lazy to figure them out." However, there are some films that prove to be very difficult to understand (e.g., Spider Forest) or simply don't make the slightest bit of sense at all (e.g., Marronnier). "Voices" (aka "Someone Behind You") is one of those projects that is most definitely a bit too vague for its own good, so it's understandable that many viewers have serious problems figuring this movie out.

This is a shell game kind of movie that tries to bait the viewer into red herring traps from start to finish. Don't be fooled, this is simply and solely about a demon (in human form) who is one gigantic scumbag that uses varying degrees of manipulation to coerce and/or control human beings for his own sick little games and perverted enjoyment. His favorite statement, "Don't trust anyone, not even yourself" is nothing more than a patronizing taunt to scare his victims. If he was more forthcoming, he would say something like this: "I will coerce your friends and family to kill you. If that doesn't work, I will force them into a state of temporary insanity to kill you." The only true escape from this disastrous situation is to simply move into a desolate, isolated area and live the rest of your life in seclusion, which isn't exactly a losing proposition for a scumbag demon who wants to see people suffer, both physically and/or psychologically.

The psychological effects come into play when his victims prove particularly difficult to kill - and our lead protagonist is one tough cookie, eluding a number of attacks from friends and family members. In cases such as this, the attempted murders will form an unprecedented pattern that points towards some supernatural, uncommon influence. Think about it. Why would every single friend and family member attempt to kill someone? At this point, the possibility of a curse no longer seems so far-fetched. In addition, paranoia reaches its highest level, and the target will suffer greatly when attempting to reconcile these crazy events with their newly acquired mistrust and fear of their loved ones. Just the kind of psychological games a sick, demonic scumbag would love to watch. It also makes this film hella interesting.

While somewhat obvious that the demon has added outside influence to every attempted murder, what makes this movie even more appealing during a second viewing is pondering just how much manipulation is required to push a particular person over the edge into attempted murder. For example, the husband who throws his wife into the path of a moving bus is possibly the least influenced murder herein. It is possible that the demon made the phone calls to his house, but I have no problems assuming that the character is wholly responsible for his actions and that the demon simply instilled some doubt into his mind regarding his love's possible infidelity. To take a contrasting example, the groom who tosses his bride off the balcony had no identifiable motive for doing so, which leans more towards a demon-influenced state of temporary insanity. The other instances of assault usually fall between those two extremes.

Not everything in this film is cut and dry though. As I mentioned earlier, the script is vague and ambiguous, leaving unexplained gaps in the storyline. Most of these are easily rectified with logical, common sense assumptions because there's very little (if any) blatant contradictions when one understands that a demonic scumbag is behind everything; and as we all know, demonic scumbags are not bound to follow a set or rules or guidelines. I would post my specific thoughts, but this 1000-word review is very limited (read the message board instead). Also, I knowingly confess that this film is flawed in terms of scriptwriting, so there's really no hard-hitting points to be made in that regard anyways.

However, the blemishes in "Someone Behind You" are overshadowed by a number of positive qualities. At the very least you'll get solid acting and a refreshingly different premise, which automatically elevates this film above most non-Asian horror fare. The aforementioned murder attempts are well-executed (some of which are very bloody) and the sense of paranoia is most definitely highlighted at numerous points. The protagonists are also very likable and their decision-making is understandable. What you end up with is a flick that's pretty damn entertaining.

The last few years have been fantastic for the South Korean horror/thriller genre. "Faithless Hell" (2009), "Someone Behind You" (2007) is a nice compliment to films like "Hansel and Gretel" (2007), "The Chaser" (2008), "The Return" (aka "Wide Awake") (2007), "Epitaph" (2007), "Muoi" (2007), "Bloody Reunion" (2006), "Loner" (2008), "A Bloody Aria" (2006), "Seven Days" (2007), "Cadaver" (2007), "A Good Wife" (2007), "Coma" (2006 miniseries), and "D-Day" (aka "Roommates") (2006). Most of these have their own particular flaws (most films do), but this is a very good lineup of titles that would make an awesome weekend marathon. I'll never understand why everyone reflexively runs out to rent the U.S. "Shutter" remake while ignoring these little gems. There is a significant minority of movie buffs who like Asian horror, but more people need to see these movies. I rarely (if ever) hear anyone talk about them. Even the formulaic entries like "D-Day" are really cool - and all of them are better than 90% of the crap coming out of Hollywood these days. Please check them out.

What if your family and friends were suddenly obsessed with killing you? That is the scenario explored in VOICES, an Asian horror film in this years 8 Films To Die For festival.

This was the second film I chose to view of the 8, trying to go in order of least to most interest. I didn't care much for REINCARNATION from the first festival, and honestly have seen few Asian horror films that I liked, so I didn't bring a very high expectation level to this one. I can say that, despite some flaws, I liked it more than I expected.

The film begins with an inexplicable scene of a kid having witnessed a horrible murder in his own home, and then moves swiftly to our main character Ga-in Kim, who witnesses her Aunt being flung from a balcony at her own wedding, and later sees her brutally stabbed by her other Aunt (NOTE: the film is not shy in covering the screen with buckets of blood and gore). The surviving Aunt tells Kim that she had been jealous of her sister, and ultimately felt an overwhelming urge to kill her.

It isn't long before Kim seems to have elicited the same feeling in others, as her friends, then family all begin to attack her, one-by-one, trying to kill her. As the film progresses, we soon learn there is indeed a force behind these murderous motives.

As Asian horror films go, this one was not so bad. I think there is a natural cultural disconnect when you are dealing with foreign film, so a lot of the difficulty comes from not quite understanding "their world" and in what is lost in translation of the script. The main problem I have with this film is that the pattern of Kim being attacked by her family and friends quickly becomes predictable and tired. Every time she seems completely out matched, and every time someone swoops in at the last moment to save her. It becomes improbable very quickly.

The writers try to pad the film out a little by having Kim take a side trip to an old man in the country to hear his story of how he too fell victim to the curse. This device does little more than add to the running time, as he has no answers for her.

The film also contains a kind of "SIXTH SENSE" style twist in the end, but you will see it coming from miles away, especially if you are up to date on supernatural films of the last decade.

I think this would have been a very effective short film, but as a 90-minute feature, the plot seems stretched pretty thin. Even so, the film is beautiful to look at - the acting seems good all around, and the music stands out - beautiful and haunting, it helps to set the creepy atmosphere. After first viewing it, I gave the film a fairly low rating - but having sat through several of the other Horrorfest clunkers, I am finding myself appreciating this one more and more.

japanese horror flicks is a genre that has been growing on me for some time. the japanese have a take on horror that is similar to ours, but they do have their own vantage point that is flavored with their own folklore and perceptions of death and the macabre. this is a somewhat tantalizing flick put out by the after dark horrorfest, which is a company that sometimes delivers great movies.....but sometimes delivers trash. this is a worthwhile flick that is worth a look. i still wish the after dark people would offer an english voiceover when doing japanese films. all we get are english subtitles, which makes the movie harder to follow. still, this is a creepy, bloody movie about a girl who finds that everyone around her can suddenly snap and try to kill her. she can trust no one! it's hard to gage japanese acting, because the language barrier gets in the way....but the acting seems adequate for the genre. the story is fascinating and holds your interest. again, the language barrier made it necessary for me to watch this thing 3 or 4 times before i really figured out what was going on.....and i still haven't quite figured out the ending. but overall, this is a good flick with a decent number of surprises and scares, a lot of action and blood.....and when it comes down to it, it's just a fun, bloody, eerie little flick that is a pleasant diversion if you want to spend the day watching something spooky with a japanese twist. i'm sure i'll be watching it again. it's growing on me. and again, it would have been more enjoyable with an english voiceover....but it still would have been worth only a 4 star rating. but i can recommend this to horror fans at a 4-star level with a smile on my face and a dagger in somebody's heart........sayonara!

There's plenty of jump scares in this film but I think it's to make sure your awake. The movie is interesting for the first 30 minutes but after that it just really doesn't go anywhere. The problem is the plot and how it doesn't ever evolve to make the story really work for the movie. The movie centers around a girl who's family and friends try to kill her when they randomly go "berserk" for whatever reason.

It's about as interesting as it sounds since there's not really any good action. You'd think the movie would be one crazy adrenaline rush with plenty of escape sequences but instead it's full of cut scenes. I.E. when she's being attacked she jumps around and screams then someone comes to help her than cut scene.It does this for every action sequence and it gets old. It's like the writers didn't know how to end the fighting scenes.The people that just go berserk conveniently disappear. Aside from the fact that they just tried to commit murder they are talked about like they had a common cold after the cut seen.

There's also the jump/demon scenes which are interesting and spooky but why? Usually in a normal horror film they do this for the first half hour to pump up the suspense and then they show the supernatural being. In this movie it's just the jump/shock scares so nothing ever truly evolves with the demon creature they show you. Matter of fact halfway through the movie it never makes another appearance or is even referenced as to what that was all about.

The plot is full of holes and the story doesn't explain much. In most cases people will use an excuse saying you only understand the movie if your familiar with Korean culture. No, I only understand if you're Korean you'll probably use that as an excuse to get people to appreciate a horribly bad film your country produced. This horror movie is just plain awful in any culture.

The reason as to why family members are trying to kill their loved ones is never explained. Is it the demon? Is it a curse? Is it some kind of virus? What's going on and why are they doing it? What was the message at the end? Was it the girl who was imagining people were attacking her when she was really hallucinating and attacking them instead? Story doesn't just doesn't make it clear. It's just overall a poorly written movie.


There are also things I wonder about though like why does the main character who is a high school student have a boyfriend who is her same age that is apparently a Doctor. Is he Doogie Howser? Why is the method for killing someone always pushing them off a balcony or stabbing them?

The only thing I can see is that this movie wants to be like "Fallen" but it falls far from making sense like "Fallen" did. Where as in Fallen a demon take possession of peoples bodies and causes them to kill one another and when he leaves the persons body they have no memory of what happened or why they did it. In Voices it's similar as to were people apparently kill their siblings,parents or whatever but it's not clear just what makes them do it but apparently they don't remember why themselves. Then they just trough random demon images in the mix. Just wasn't feeling this one at all.


Overall Average film 2/5.
A couple pretty girls (not the main character), some cheap scares, a plot that falls flat, and that's about it.

the movie isnt the best but its ok .. i just needed it to get my whole collection of the horrorfeast movies !! the newer ones arent as good as the old one s horror feast 4 really sucked, i am hopeing they step it up a 100 % next yr !!

I've been hardly anything impressed with this year's After Dark Horrorfest lineup, which may be the worst yet. Still, there's something to be said with this year's foreign offering, the South Korean Du saram-yida, which roughly translates to "Someone Behind You", or Voices as it is called on the cover. The "Someone Behind You" translation would make better sense as a title though, even if the film as a whole is more confusing than anything. The story revolves around a young girl, who all of the sudden witnesses people around her killing each other. Whether it be friends, family members, or school faculty, everyone is trying to kill each other, and her as well. Why are they doing such a thing? Is it a curse or some otherworldly force? We never really know and never really learn anything either, but what Voices manages to have going for it is a great creepy atmosphere and some good gore effects. Other than that though, good luck making sense out of the whole thing. Don't be surprised if Voices makes it as being a PG-13 rated American remake one day down the road, but until then, this is one of the few installments in this year's After Dark Horrorfest lineup that is really worth your time in the least.

I had heard about this film via "afterdark horrorfest", and my expectations were not too high, not too low, i was interested though, enough to purchase the dvd. And boy was I surprised at how good this film was...i mean, its horror, blood, gore, and all that, so you know to a degree what you are getting, but this film has a lot of surprises in store for you, along with high production value, great artistic design, very good cinematography and a story that keeps you INVOLVED...i won't say any more except that this is a film that will surprise you...

Re-titled and re-packaged as "VOICES" as part of this latest "After Dark Horror fest" film festival, director Ki-Hwan Oh's "Some Behind You" (aka. Du Saram Yida) is a South Korean commercial horror film--when I say "commercial", I mean because it has an appealing cast, and somewhat compelling characters adapted from a comic book by Kang Kyung-Ok. I wasn't expecting much when I saw this film, since most commercial Korean films usually suck but I decided to give it a chance. I should've known much better.

Kim Ga-In (Jin-Seo Yun, she`s actually 24 yrs. old) is a high school student dating Hyung Joong, a medical intern (a 16-18 year old dating a mid-20`s intern, a little far-fetched don't you think?). One day, her aunt Ji-Sun falls off the balcony during her wedding day, and later on killed by her other aunt Jung-Sun. Soon after, strange things begin to occur as a significant number of people attempts to kill Ga-In; the school bookworm, her teacher, her fencing partner, and then even her own mother gets into the mix. She realizes that something is not right, and decides to leave--(really?) Now, she must get to the bottom of a so-called "family curse" that drives the smallest amount animosity turn to violent behavior.

The film's direction and script is rather very unfocused and very undisciplined in the way it lacked credibility in its proceedings. A lot of things happen that require a very large suspension of disbelief. Silly elements are introduced, the film tries to point a finger to reasoning, and logic--one minute it is talking about curses, then we see a crazed murder plot in the final act. What makes it worst is the manner it all puts everything together in such a convoluted fashion that felt too cheap and made no sense. I don't really mind an abundance of subplots so long as the direction makes sense of them all by establishing groundwork; director Oh terribly fails in this needed execution and goes for cheap surprises that neither adds a psychological effect nor a narrative surprise.

The screenplay by Lee Hyo-Chul is big mess, it became laughable and preposterous the longer it went; with her mother apologizing to Ga-In's attempted murder and then there's a mysterious guy named Seok-Min--who looked like a creepy anime character--is he a figment of Ga-In's imagination or something else? Well, her friend Myung-Hee saw him so he is no phantom or "figment" even though the script suggests otherwise. Also, whatever happened to the cops? I thought a number of killings would raise a red flag on this family. The curse's own development seemed too convoluted that it was so obvious that its rules lacked consistency. Actually, it is just one huge messy storyline with twists so ubiquitous.

To its credit, the cinematography does look very slick and cool as with other more mainstream Korean horror films. The film does looked very pretty, with some scenes utilizing an effective use of CGI effects. The scene with the floating mid-air pool of blood is freaky. The film also has a good share of blood and mild gore, as it displays its somewhat violent sequences. The performance by Jin-Seo Kim is competent enough, she is after a good actress although you would be hard-pressed to notice in this film given the script she has to work with.

"Voices" is one entry in the books of Korean horror, that looks pretty. Unfortunately, all its good looks are overshadowed by a very uninspired script, unfocused direction and a cheap attempt for a cerebral surprise. A Horror film has to have its rules and groundwork well established, otherwise it would result in a very annoying experience. Personally, I think it should have kept its original title in U.S. shores--and as to why it was picked for "Horror fest" I have no idea. Sometimes, I just have to listen to my gut feeling or to the voice behind me--BOO!!

Rental [2 ½- Stars]

I'm not usually a big horror/gore fan, but I actually really liked this one a lot. The scares were more psychological than your typical slasher because it's all about people you love and trust suddenly turning on you and flying at you with a kitchen knife. The cinematography rocked and that Korean chick was smoking!! I never realized there were so many different ways to die...