Actuakers
One of my all time favorites.
Dirtylogy
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
Tymon Sutton
The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.
Cinemafou
I don't like it when a film is incoherent. I don't like it when a film drags. I don't like waiting for something to happen in the film and nothing happens. I do have to give some credit for atmosphere and photography, and in spite of what some other reviewers have said the acting is fairly good. Unfortunately the script runs out of interesting material very fast, and as the film dragged on I started to detect some extremely tiresome and derivative plot elements that are simply annoying. i suspect in an attempt to be mysterious with a bizarre back story and a surprise ending, the screenwriter was smoking something and could not avoid going completely off the rails. Sadly, what could have been good, wasn't.
ryandannar
"House of Voices," the first feature film by Pascal Laugier, contains many of the elements that made his 2008 cult-classic "Martyrs" so great. Both films start off in a predictable, genre-specific way -- then gradually reveal darker, stranger, subterranean layers that defy our expectations. Of the two films, "House" is lighter fare, while "Martyrs" is far bloodier and much, much more disturbing."House of Voices," begins as a slow-build Gothic ghost-story, in the vein of 2007's "The Orphanage" or 2001's "The Others." "House" works quite well on this level, featuring engaging female performances, a slowly-unravelling mystery, some handsome cinematography, a lush dramatic score, and some moments of genuine dread. But then, in its final act, the film takes a sharp and surprising turn toward the surreal. I could describe what happens in these scenes, but what really makes them work is the way they're filmed -- the simple strange visual power of these moments. Suffice to say, while you might have a general idea where the plot of this movie is headed, you will probably not foresee exactly how it arrives there.The final scenes of this movie plumb some nightmarish depths, departing stylistically from the subtle Gothic-horror which came before, and entering far stranger territory. Don't worry; it all adds up. This isn't one of those horror films which leads you on, only to end with such strangeness that you have no hope of understanding what the movie was about. No, everything here makes sense in terms of the film's plot. It's just that the film's sudden stylistic change is jarring and surreal, evoking the kinds of unexpected shifts we might experience in our deepest nightmares.For me, this movie worked quite well. I see some others here have given it bad reviews. I gather that's because they don't know how to tell a thoughtful, well-made film from worthless pap like the "Saw" franchise. This certainly isn't the best movie I've ever seen, but it's a very fine, thoughtful, moderately scary film with a bizarre final act that might haunt you afterward.If you like this film, and you have a strong stomach, I'd certainly recommend Laugier's "Martyrs." It plays the same stylistic tricks as this film, but much more intensely, and to greater effect. Word of warning, though: It is a far more disturbing film than "House of Voices."
loogenhausen
I love haunted house movies like some horror fans love a good slasher movie. I'm not talking about George C. Scott tooling around an empty house for some dead kid's bouncy ball. I'm talking about seriously creepy haunted house flicks where the house is possessed by stuff that would make Lovecraft rise from the grave. This film is nice to look at but it breaks the first rule of haunted house movies: it's ridiculously boring. Even after drinking a flagon of Mountain Dew, I had to struggle to keep my eyelids on the out and open mode during several stretches of this film. When I say nothing happens in this film, I really mean nothing happens at all. Some Natalie Portman lookalike babe who's hiding her pregnancy ends up at an orphanage in the 50's to work as a cleaning lady while the place undergoes renovations. Everyone vacates the premises except for the plump, matronly cooking wench and one orphan who's been there just a tad too long and does a bang-up Courtney Love impression. Apparently, the place is haunted but you wouldn't know that from watching the damn movie. A good haunted house movie doesn't rely on a few boo-jumps but more on solid atmosphere and creepy settings. I guess the director didn't get that memo. It's not awful, just extremely dull. That's a shame, because the house and the actors are there, but the story isn't. Toward the end of the film, the main character discovers what's really going on and what follows is so out of left field and jarringly gauche for the movie, I was checking to make sure I hadn't fallen asleep and accidentally started another movie while I was snoozing. If you want something playing in the background while you have a Saturday afternoon nap, go ahead and put House of Voices on. You'll probably have a boring dream about being a hot housekeeper in France.
pietterbeek
This could have been a good movie. If a good actress was chosen for the main part and if the story was more tied. Ledoyen's acting is so insecure, so weak, almost everything she does makes clear that she is looking for a way to fill the part. But too late, the work has been done as one starts watching the movie. The story takes place in a summer, but what in fact is taken place? I did not find the clue, or it is a weak one I have to set my mind upon. Of course, the bad acting of Viginie Ledoyen is partly due to herself, so what the hell did the director during the time her scenes were shot? It is the man's job to direct, not to look how an actress is acting. The editor could have done a good job by shortening the scenes, but did the contrary. However, the storytelling can be edited, not the story itself. About the rest of the film making I am positive. Well done, cameraman, hat off. The sound was good, the scenery in the end even amazing. But too late, a good end does not make a good story. One may wonder if there is one.
