(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“When a family matriarch falls seriously ill, relatives gather and discover their shared ancestral ties bind them in unexpected ways.”
Succinctly, 2026’s The Voices Of Our Mother is the kind of film that superficially might seem a bit more transcendental than it is.
Written by, directed by, and starring Mark O’Brien, the picture explores the lowest of lows when it comes to family relationships: four siblings – twins William (played by O’Brien) and Therese (Carolina Bartcazk) along with Martin Alex Ozerov-Meyer) and Annika (Georgina Reilly) – are called back home after the death of their grandmother Johanna (Anna Ferguson) leaves their seriously incapacitated mother Harriet (Sheila McCarthy) requiring some assistance. Haunted by the fractured relationship with an abusive father (never seen), the children as adults have all gone their separate ways but now must regroup as a unit to see their mother’s affairs are properly tended to; but their bitter resentments and shared secrets all turn out to be actually owed to the fact that Mommie Dearest was – decades before – infected by some intangible spirit when grandma kinda/sorta welched on an agreement with Satan himself. Now, they’ve no choices but to face their demons (snicker snicker) as mom begins vacillating wildly between dementia, catatonia, and possession.
Where the script earns a bit of praise is that O’Brien not only employs the GirlBoss mentality by presenting the meek little Annika with the opportunity to save life as we know it but also embodies the central baddie in an equally meek but vulnerable elderly woman, Harriet. Though the older woman sometimes speaks in a threatening voice which sounds more masculine than feminine, there’s never any attempt to visual escape the reality: by all appearances, Harriet to too old, too confused, and too frail to manifest the level of threat that McCarthy manages to present here. In rather stereotypical fashion, the males are mostly feckless – the entertainment industry continues to take stands against masculinity of any type, and the trend in Horror pretty much follows suit – but it is … well … kinda cool to see even Father Roslovic (Shawn Doyle) reduced to taking a pull or two on a silver flask to fortify his spiritual courage for what’s likely coming next. Clearing the way for the two timid representatives of the fairer sex makes Voices seem equally feminist and (closeted) chauvinist at the same time; so here’s to levelling the playing field in unexpected ways.
However, the narrative still never quite found what footing it wanted to come down on with issues of faith and family. It’s Father Roslovic who finally puts together enough of the pieces to argue that – ahem – love triumphs faith, meaning only one who truly loved Harriet can put the unmitigated beast back in its proverbial cage. Then, what act is necessary to force the demon back into the shadows of the old woman’s mind? Well, that would be … a prayer. Prayers – for those of you unaware – are intended to be representations of faith. Even Google.com clarifies them as demonstrations of religious observances; but O’Brien’s script rather conveniently omits such claptrap by underscoring, basically, “love is all you need.” Erm … didn’t each of these characters already go on record saying that they couldn’t and wouldn’t love their mother for her unwillingness to defend them against dear old dad? So … how is this inconsistency shored up, exactly?
It isn’t; and it’s this wide-open-space many might see as an inconvenient plot hole needing to be filled with something for Voices to make any narrative sense in the final reel. If all that’s required is the saying of a prayer – but not the spiritual intent and/or meaning – then why must it be said by someone who loved the possessed? Does the prayer symbolize anything other than love? If so, then doesn’t it stand to reason that anyone could’ve recited it, even perhaps someone who was just casually fond of the woman? How can the entity distinguish between the prayer and the love? There’s no explanation – and, mind you, Voices is full to the brim with exposition far too often – so more was needed in order to support this conclusion.
Ultimately, Voices kinda/sorta succumbs to its own central construct: when no one in the ensemble is a hero, then the audience likely won’t attach much value to anything virtuously done to ‘save the day’ nor invest in whether or not anyone survives. When even a nun seems to embrace her own flaws instead of achieving a sanctified life, then what are we – the desperate, sinful, and unanointed – going to show for yourselves when we’re tasked to step up and do right by our fellow man? Crises of faith are certainly no strange thing when it comes to theatrical storytelling – indeed, Hollywood loves it when believers are served tragedies ultimately of their own making – but how are we to resolve these matters of the heart without someone who has lived a life showing us the way forward? It’s all just too damn muddled here, and audiences deserve better.
The Voices Of Our Mother (2026) was produced by Vortex Productions. According to the film’s advance publicity materials, Voices will be streaming on Shudder on June 19th, 2026. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I can still assure readers that the provided sights and sounds are mostly very good: I had some difficulty hearing what was being said during a few of the monstrously-augmented bits, and a few of the special effects sequences in the finale were a bit – ahem – undercooked. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? As I viewed the film via streaming, there were no special features to consider.
Alas … only Mildly Recommended.
2026’s The Voices Of Our Mother had some strong potential: while many might feel a bit cheated over the way O’Brien’s script squanders an otherwise adept possession story in favor of (instead) a rather dark family melodrama, the end result is that the only elements that truly work thematically and cinematically are the Horror bits. (It really doesn’t get spooky until the midpoint, another indication that not all is at it seems.) Given that this family dynamic is top-heavy with evildoers and the real villainous culprit is rather advanced in age, the storyteller switches to some visual trickery in order to deliver a no-holds-barred finale, all of which is a bit murkily rendered with some rather obvious special effects work. Though I didn’t dislike what was delivered, it nonetheless felt a bit contrived if not downright forgettable because – in somewhat predictable fashion – everyone had to be a ‘bad guy’ until they weren’t.
In the interest of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Shudder provided me with complimentary streaming access to The Voices Of Our Mother (2026) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“When a family matriarch falls seriously ill, relatives gather and discover their shared ancestral ties bind them in unexpected ways.”
Succinctly, 2026’s The Voices Of Our Mother is the kind of film that superficially might seem a bit more transcendental than it is.
Written by, directed by, and starring Mark O’Brien, the picture explores the lowest of lows when it comes to family relationships: four siblings – twins William (played by O’Brien) and Therese (Carolina Bartcazk) along with Martin Alex Ozerov-Meyer) and Annika (Georgina Reilly) – are called back home after the death of their grandmother Johanna (Anna Ferguson) leaves their seriously incapacitated mother Harriet (Sheila McCarthy) requiring some assistance. Haunted by the fractured relationship with an abusive father (never seen), the children as adults have all gone their separate ways but now must regroup as a unit to see their mother’s affairs are properly tended to; but their bitter resentments and shared secrets all turn out to be actually owed to the fact that Mommie Dearest was – decades before – infected by some intangible spirit when grandma kinda/sorta welched on an agreement with Satan himself. Now, they’ve no choices but to face their demons (snicker snicker) as mom begins vacillating wildly between dementia, catatonia, and possession.
Where the script earns a bit of praise is that O’Brien not only employs the GirlBoss mentality by presenting the meek little Annika with the opportunity to save life as we know it but also embodies the central baddie in an equally meek but vulnerable elderly woman, Harriet. Though the older woman sometimes speaks in a threatening voice which sounds more masculine than feminine, there’s never any attempt to visual escape the reality: by all appearances, Harriet to too old, too confused, and too frail to manifest the level of threat that McCarthy manages to present here. In rather stereotypical fashion, the males are mostly feckless – the entertainment industry continues to take stands against masculinity of any type, and the trend in Horror pretty much follows suit – but it is … well … kinda cool to see even Father Roslovic (Shawn Doyle) reduced to taking a pull or two on a silver flask to fortify his spiritual courage for what’s likely coming next. Clearing the way for the two timid representatives of the fairer sex makes Voices seem equally feminist and (closeted) chauvinist at the same time; so here’s to levelling the playing field in unexpected ways.
However, the narrative still never quite found what footing it wanted to come down on with issues of faith and family. It’s Father Roslovic who finally puts together enough of the pieces to argue that – ahem – love triumphs faith, meaning only one who truly loved Harriet can put the unmitigated beast back in its proverbial cage. Then, what act is necessary to force the demon back into the shadows of the old woman’s mind? Well, that would be … a prayer. Prayers – for those of you unaware – are intended to be representations of faith. Even Google.com clarifies them as demonstrations of religious observances; but O’Brien’s script rather conveniently omits such claptrap by underscoring, basically, “love is all you need.” Erm … didn’t each of these characters already go on record saying that they couldn’t and wouldn’t love their mother for her unwillingness to defend them against dear old dad? So … how is this inconsistency shored up, exactly?
It isn’t; and it’s this wide-open-space many might see as an inconvenient plot hole needing to be filled with something for Voices to make any narrative sense in the final reel. If all that’s required is the saying of a prayer – but not the spiritual intent and/or meaning – then why must it be said by someone who loved the possessed? Does the prayer symbolize anything other than love? If so, then doesn’t it stand to reason that anyone could’ve recited it, even perhaps someone who was just casually fond of the woman? How can the entity distinguish between the prayer and the love? There’s no explanation – and, mind you, Voices is full to the brim with exposition far too often – so more was needed in order to support this conclusion.
Ultimately, Voices kinda/sorta succumbs to its own central construct: when no one in the ensemble is a hero, then the audience likely won’t attach much value to anything virtuously done to ‘save the day’ nor invest in whether or not anyone survives. When even a nun seems to embrace her own flaws instead of achieving a sanctified life, then what are we – the desperate, sinful, and unanointed – going to show for yourselves when we’re tasked to step up and do right by our fellow man? Crises of faith are certainly no strange thing when it comes to theatrical storytelling – indeed, Hollywood loves it when believers are served tragedies ultimately of their own making – but how are we to resolve these matters of the heart without someone who has lived a life showing us the way forward? It’s all just too damn muddled here, and audiences deserve better.
The Voices Of Our Mother (2026) was produced by Vortex Productions. According to the film’s advance publicity materials, Voices will be streaming on Shudder on June 19th, 2026. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I can still assure readers that the provided sights and sounds are mostly very good: I had some difficulty hearing what was being said during a few of the monstrously-augmented bits, and a few of the special effects sequences in the finale were a bit – ahem – undercooked. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? As I viewed the film via streaming, there were no special features to consider.
Alas … only Mildly Recommended.
2026’s The Voices Of Our Mother had some strong potential: while many might feel a bit cheated over the way O’Brien’s script squanders an otherwise adept possession story in favor of (instead) a rather dark family melodrama, the end result is that the only elements that truly work thematically and cinematically are the Horror bits. (It really doesn’t get spooky until the midpoint, another indication that not all is at it seems.) Given that this family dynamic is top-heavy with evildoers and the real villainous culprit is rather advanced in age, the storyteller switches to some visual trickery in order to deliver a no-holds-barred finale, all of which is a bit murkily rendered with some rather obvious special effects work. Though I didn’t dislike what was delivered, it nonetheless felt a bit contrived if not downright forgettable because – in somewhat predictable fashion – everyone had to be a ‘bad guy’ until they weren’t.
In the interest of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Shudder provided me with complimentary streaming access to The Voices Of Our Mother (2026) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
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