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| Images Courtesy of The Unity Group |
A somber
fever dream of witchcraft and trauma, Abbey Brenker and Ellyn Vander
Wyden's feature film Voices Carry debuted at Cinequest 2025 last
evening. Mixing independent sensibilities, esoteric underpinnings,
and a bravura central performance, this is one of the most memorable films of
the year thus far.
A couple, Sam and Jack, retreat to a family homestead to find a renewal
to their relationship, unwittingly releasing ghosts of the past that may or may
not be real. As things progress, Sam begins to become mentally
undone. Brenker and Vander Wyden's script is the strongest element, using
a glacial pace to reveal its quasi-ghost story, while also examining a dying
relationship. It is the story's human elements that make this work, as the
drama of the present intersects with that of the past to create a true
haunting, the specter of familial dysfunction and loss that can never truly be
exorcised.
Gia Crovatin stars as Sam, a bereaved daughter whose business has recently
failed. She is joined by Jeff Ayars as Jack. Their chemistry is perfectly
strained, displaying a relationship on its last leg. The move to the
family house seems like a last-ditch effort at rekindling the romance, with Sam
even trying pickling as a means to recuperate. Jeremy Holm steals the
limelight as Henry, as a creepy neighbor who may have malicious intent. As
these three personalities blend, Sam discovers elements of the past that drive
her deeper into depression.
Mauricio Vasquez’s crisp cinematography is the final piece. Capturing the native locales and juxtaposing them with the interior of the home is well done with wide shots and tight angles that help to enhance the disintegration of Sam’s psyche. Every shot has a coldness to it that almost creeps off the screen.
The supernatural elements are sparse, as this is an indie, but the budget constraints actually enhance the ghostly elements: Disembodied voices, an accursed diary, and other trinkets that link Sam to her mother's tragic passing. The house itself is perhaps the biggest conduit, a portal to a time and place of violence and remorse, and it is this that proves inescapable for Sam.
Coming hopefully very soon to digital streaming, Voices Carry is a different kind of ghost story whose languid pace may not work for every viewer, but those with patience will find a special, heartbreaking story about how cycles of trauma allowed to fester are the true phantasms that lurk in the shadows of everyday life.
--Kyle
Jonathan