The Voices Of Our Mother

There are moments when i want to challenge myself, when i want to watch something different and intelligent as well. Even if i watch a lot of low budget films and independent films i do really enjoy very fascinating stories, even odd films that stands out from the crowd. I love hearing about films that the mainstream audience may not have heard of, films that may look different or have something intriguing to tell. One distribution company who are really good at releasing very good releases on physical media, is the distributiuon company known as Arrow Video. I have bought quite a lot of releases from them over the years, mostly of classic films or cult status releases. But then they have also released some more original films that´s been interesting. A perfect example if this is the 2021 Canadian psychological thriller The Righteous, that was released with a beautiful blu ray cover. Now, what makes this film fascinating you might wonder? First of all it´s a film shot completely in black and white, so this gives the film a different depth. There is also a religious undertone in this film which makes the story fascinating, especially because this is an elderly couple named Frederic Mason ( Henry Czerny ) and Ethel Mason ( Mimi Kuzuk ), living alone in the countryside mourning their dead daughter. They do attend their local church on Sunday and know some folks in the small town, but otherwise they live a quiet life. Until one night when a young injured man named Aaron Smith ( Mark O´Brien ), who begs for help while crawling outside of their house. They take him inside their home and welcome him, where especially Frederic´s wife like the company of this young man. Who is he really? Why was he out in the forest? Is there a meaning to why he came to this specific cabin? This dramatic psychological thriller have a lot of connections to the Bible. and especially regarding sins and forgivness which is something this film digs deep into. Director Mark O´Brien give us a well made film that´s not only beautiful to watch, the acting is really good as well. The Righteous is definetely worth picking up on a physical blu ray from Arrow Video. Speaking of religious connected films, i did sat down to watch the drama horror film known as The Voices Of Our Mother, from the same director of The Righteous. It seems that this film also have a religious undertione but this is a horror film instead compared to The Righteous. Is this a must watch this autumn or should you skip this one and choose something far more interesting?

Harriet ( Sheila McCarthy ) suddenly see her mother pass, while she is struggling herself physically and mentally. Harriet ends up being hospitalized, when her siblings William ( Mark O´ Brien ) and Annika ( Georgina Reilly ) are forced to help their mother together with family members. At first it looks like she might be suffering from a dementia illness. As their mother´s behavior begin to change suddenly, is it really dementia or could there be another explanation to her strange behavior?

Since i enjoyed The Righteous for being such a deeply psychological film, i was very curious to see if The Voices Of Our Mother would attempt something similar. I would say that these films are a bit different from each other, except that both films do capture the world of elderly people. I noticed this very early in The Voices Of Our Mother that this could be a very personal thing for director Mark O´Brien, considering he told the story of an elderly couple in The Righteous and he brings up elderly people in this film as well. I really appreciate that because i feel we need to include the subject of aging more often, since we usually see younger people in a lot of horror films. Aging is a natural part of life so of course it should be talked about in different stories. One thing i feel that director Mark O`Brien improved with this film is that he skipped a lot of dialogue scenes, as he had in The Righteous. I understand that perhaps they were needed in The Righteous so we could get to know the characters better, but we don´t need that in The Voices Of Our Mother,  i feel that this was a good choice focusing on the story instead. I think a lot of people can relate to the part of the story of taking care of your elderly mother, except we have exorcism influences in here as well which makes the plot fascinating. One of the reasons why the demonic possession scenes works well in this film, is seeing several family members struggle seeing their ill mother change completey as if something have taken over her soul. Just imagine seeing this happening, while you are taking care of her. This gives the film a deeper meaning how important it is to have faith, and fight for your mother when she is too weak. The acting in general is good where the best acting performance comes from actress Sheila McCarthy, ( who i especially remember from the body horror film Antiviral, worth a watch ), and it´s nice to see director Mark O´Brien act in this film as well since i liked his acting performance in The Righteous. Even if there isnt´t s lot of scary scenes in this film, it is more about the atmosphere and struggling mentally in complicated situations that makes the horror scenes become effective. The only negative i can think of regarding this film, may be that this film doesn´t feel as original as The Righteous, but i still feel this is a solid old school horror film if you enjoy exorcism films. I will be keeping my eyes open for future films of director Mark O´Brien, im definetely a fan and im hoping he continue making more horror films in the future. Worth a watch on streaming or VOD, The Voices Of Our Mother deliver a cozy horror moment.

Rating: DDD