IR Film Review: THE VOICES OF OUR MOTHER [Shudder]

“The Voices Of Our Mother” which is an acquisition by Shudder is an interesting play in that it is a character drama piece wrapped in a one-way path of exorcism by where a caretaker is the necessary bout of evil but not as a victim but as the purveyor. At the center of this parable is the mother in question who is being cared for her own mother, who then passes away. The origin of her daughter needs to be kept in check as the circumstances surrounding her and her husband and by extension her children create the crux of the story. Sheila McCarthy plays the mother in question who is not so much possessed but created. The context of the father is an interesting omission simply because there is talk of abuse of the kids and yet it is not focused towards their mother...and the father is never shown. This might have been manipulation on the mother's part by the force controlling her. Mark O’Brien writes, directs and stars as William who is searching for a way out of the family but also manipulating it from within. O’Brien was one of the leads in the original "Ready Or Not" and that sensibility serves him well here both with his junkie brother Martin (Alex Meyer) but especially Georgina Reilly as Annika, a would-be nun (and his sister) who is both the audience but the one with everything emotionally to lose.

Reilly and O’Brian also worked together on "City On The Hill", a cop drama from Showtime that started Kevin Bacon. The back and forth as the film continues on unpacks how each of the siblings screwed each other over. This back and forth is nicely done and feels more like a stage play at times. Carolina Bartczak rounds out the quartet of siblinhs as Theresa who like Martin, the junkie brother, seems to have issues but ones that William has compounded. William wants control of the house but there is no scenario in which that serves the story well (or explains why it benefits him specifically except financially). There is a medical doctor at the hospital who advises them throughout this process saying that even if their mother is in a coma she is in peak physical condition. She suggests that they need to be near her, for her to have familiar faces. That point literally forces the story too much and is the reason the siblings have to stay together. The story might have worked better if they were all separated. Staying in the same house with the presence right there doesn't work as well. If they were in different places, the dark force could have lead them into the wrong situations (ala "Final Destination"). But that is not this movie. O’Brien wants to tell a story of penance even where certain people don’t attain forgjveness, just a set of responsibilities that pushes one of the characters to understand their true meaning. B

By Tim Wassberg