Now available on DVD
Cast:
Ye-ryeon Cha as Cho-ah
Ok-bin Kim as Young-eon
Seo-hyeong Kim as Hee-myun
Hyeon-kyeong Lim as Hyo-jung
Directed by Ik-hwan Choe
Review:
Voice is the fourth installment in South Korea’s “Whispering Corridors” horror series, in which each movie centers around an all-girls high school. For a film marketed in the U.S. as a gory thriller, this sequel is a surprisingly touching tale of friendship. You will not find the DVD cover art (a bloody hand crawling out of a girl’s mouth) anywhere in the film. In fact, the movie is a deeply dramatic ghost story with only mild gore. The performances are good and the mood is effectively tense and mournful. On the down side, the script ultimately loses its way with a “twist” ending just leaves the viewer scratching their head.
While rehearsing in her high school one night, aspiring singer Young-eon is mysteriously killed. Now her tormented ghost wanders the halls, but her voice can be heard by one person – her best friend Sun-min. The friends set out to solve Young-eon’s murder. They learn that her death may be linked to their music teacher and a former student who killed herself inside the school. Sun-min then meets Cho-ah, a quiet student with a dark history, who also hears ghosts. She warns Sun-min not to trust Young-eon because a ghost only believes what it wants to. Meanwhile, flashbacks slowly unveil the clues that lead to who killed Young-eon and why.
To classify Voice as a horror film would be misleading. In fact, the filmmakers could have removed the few bloody moments and probably made it even better. Where the movie succeeds is as a metaphysical drama. Young-eon and Sun-min’s friendship started with a tragedy – they bonded after one of their mothers died – and ends with another tragedy. In the afterlife, Young-eon fears her friend will forget her and she will cease to exist, while Sun-min is told she must let her friend rest in peace. Melodramatic, sure, but it keeps the viewer engaged. The film also provides an accurate portrayal of high school hierarchy, where you can be ostracized at any moment. These dramatic elements are the film’s strong points. They are nicely punctuated by a few goosebump-inducing moments, but a horror flick this is not.
Playing Young-eon and Sun-min respectively are Kim Ok-bin and Seo Ji-hye. The emotional core of the film rests upon the strength of their on-screen friendship, and these young actresses turn in solid, sympathetic performances. Both are believably tormented by their predicament. Ye-ryeon Cha also gives a cold, spooky portrayal of Cho-ah, who we never know if we can trust. With all the girls in this film, it inevitably hints at lesbian relationships, much like previous films in this series. The topic is not used to titillate, but rather as a motive behind all the angst, vengeance, and ultimately, murder.
Voice has a ghostly ambiance, complete with an Argento-esque red color scheme and a chilling musical score. The soundtrack is both beautiful and eerie, made up of somber piano and cello pieces occasionally accompanied by a haunting female voice. Music and voices are a recurring motif throughout the film. Many of the characters are singers, and a few people die via a slit throat to signify the loss of voice. The film’s title itself refers to the voice of a ghost, which can be heard by a living person with a strong attachment to the deceased. As a spirit is forgotten by the living, it loses its voice and essentially disappears. The motif is subtle and well-applied.
First-time writer/director Ik-hwan Choe provides the film with a pace that is slow but not boring. His script starts out on the right track, but ultimately succumbs to the convolution that mars many films like this. Not only is the twist ending confusing, but it completely undermines the friendship of the main characters. We all like when an ending pulls the metaphorical rug out from under our feet, but not at the sacrifice of the rest of the film. In a way, I like the twist, because it is tragic and beautifully told, but alas, it belittles the key relationship in this story. And it is far too much like a lazy, cop-out ending. The only way it could have been more insulting is if Young-eon woke up and it was all a dream. Thankfully, it didn’t go there.
In trying to compare this to an American film, I repeatedly think of only one: M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense. Both are emotionally-heavy supernatural dramas with minimal gore. Neither film stoops to cheap scares, but instead relies on eerie atmosphere and a chilling story. Also, one of the most unique aspects of Voice is that its protagonist is a ghost, so the film is largely told from her perspective. Of course, the two films differ in the success of their respective twist endings. Still, Voice is a refreshing deviation from the Asian horror trend of haunted objects (hair, eyes, videotape, etc.) and creepy pale children.
