If you don’t read anything else before watching the film, you should be aware that The Voices should have trigger warnings for mental illness, violence against women, and suicide. It’s listed as a "horror comedy" most places, but it is very, VERY dark. Low on the gore and jump scares, it is a fantastically disturbing psychological horror movie.
I reviewed Caroline Klepnes’ novel You nearly ten years ago, and the book’s horror has stuck with me for quite some time. {1}
If you’re unfamiliar, the book follows Joe, a bookseller, who meets an aspiring writer who goes by Beck, and falls obsessively for her. Obsessively.
In the first chapter, Joe is a mostly relateable guy, who is totally smitten by Beck… and then he naturally (for him) moves straight to sitting on the stoop across from Beck’s apartment and stalking her. Joe is not a normal or well guy… but so many of the feelings and thoughts he has are normal for someone just falling in love, just turned up a little too high.
That’s where I’m reminded (particularly) of the film Goodfellas. Every time I’d start to empathize with Ray Liotta’s character, there’d be something to remind me that this guy was A Bad Man. Kepnes pulls this trick off well throughout most of _You_, and even when Joe goes totally off the rails, it’s very very easy to still understand how he got there in a way that reminds me of the best bits of Red Dragon.
I’ve always thought about it as horror rather than a thriller because of that relateability. The horror comes from the realization that, with just a few tweaks here and there, a few different assumptions about the world, a slight change in brain chemistry, and an utterly horrific course of actions could somehow seem reasonable.
The Voices also fits this brief. Ryan Reynolds performs exquisitely in this film as an unreliable narrator who has schizoid-like hallucinations due to his unspecified mental illness.
But instead of just portraying an inaccurate stereotype of the "bad" mentally ill person, the film and Reynolds strive — and largely succeed — at portraying the tragic, humorous, horror of the situation.
From my understanding (not a doctor!), The Voices portrays the experience of having the kinds of hallucinations associated with schizophrenia rather accurately, reminding me at times of the Second Life Virtual Hallucination exhibit. (You can see video of the exhibit here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qudbsyJvkX8)
Reynold’s character, Jerry, is not that different from most people. He has a regular job. He has an office crush. He’s socially awkward. He loves his pets. And he does the best he can with reality — as he understands it — just like everyone else.
The horror — and humor — of the film are in how mundane so many aspects of Jerry’s life are. How close Jerry’s life is to our everyday lives, thoughts, and desires. How things can just go so horribly wrong in a deeply dark comedy of errors that spirals into horror and tragedy.
This film is deeply disturbing and horrific in the way that Klepnes’ You is. Not by resorting to revulsion, not through jump scares, but by showing how, with just a few small tweaks, something horrible can appear to make perfect sense.
Trigger warnings for mental illness, violence against women, and suicide.
As of this writing you can watch The Voices on several platforms (including ad-supported ones).
{1} I’ve not watched the TV adaptation.