Popcorn Frights Film Festival Coverage
Voidcaller review
The weirdest movie at the Popcorn Frights Film Festival tells its characters not to look too close for answers. That goes for us too.
Festival reviews will not contain spoilers
Voidcaller
Directed by Nils Alatalo
Written by Nils Alatalo
Starring Marie Senghore, Astrid Olofsson, Bengt Sanzén, Arbi Alviati, Ben Roberts, Christer Wahlberg and Christer Thunberg
Voidcaller Review
There’s always a weird one. Every genre film festival has that one crazy movie that you don’t quite understand…but can’t wrestle your eyes from. The Chattanooga Film Festival had Quantum Suicide. Panic Fest had Psychosis. Another Hole in the Head had Red Night. The Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival had Zaman Dark. Popcorn Frights has Voidcaller. A movie so strange it (almost) looks directly at you and asks you not to look for answers. It’s right. Voidcaller is a movie that you should sit back and enjoy. Leave the thinking for later.
The poster for Voidcaller calls it “A Lovecraftian Head-Trip.” I don’t know if that is the most accurate comparison they could have made. I get why they picked it. The story has certain qualities found in Lovecraft’s work. Just don’t go in expecting Cthulhu inspired sea creatures mucking about. Style wise, however…Voidcaller is distinctly Lynchian. Many moments evoke the stranger moments you’d find in an episode of Twin Peaks: The Return. Enough that you may wonder if the entire idea was born out of watching that incredible achievement unfold a few years ago. This is not a knock on the movie. In fact, it’s an incredibly high compliment.
Shot in gorgeous black and white on what had to be a shoestring budget…Voidcaller turns to camera tricks and movement to provide a lot of production value. Director Nils Alatalo routinely turns a simple scene into a vibrant, exciting experiment. I can’t say enough about how much Voidcaller gains from the style Alatalo infuses into every frame. It’s most appreciated when the story blindly throws you into another corner of its world and you have no idea what’s going on.
There is a plot in Voidcaller…just in case you were thinking it skips that altogether. It’s an incredibly engaging plot at that. Anna (Marie Senghore) wakes up missing a lot of things. Her sister is gone. Her things are gone. She has no memory of the last few weeks. All she knows is that she is in possession of a bloody knife. A flyer directs her towards Max (Arbi Alviati) and his experimental memory drug. Anna is determined to find out what happened to her…and find her sister.
She isn’t the only person this has happened to. Dan (Christer Wahlberg) is in the exact same situation. He finds a tape he recorded for himself and a code to break. Solving it provides him with a phone number…but there is no answer when he dials it. Juni (Astrid Olofsson) shows up at Dan’s house claiming to suffer from the same affliction. He believes it’s a clear sign of alien abduction. She’s there to kill him.
Anna takes the drug to enter her own mind in search of answers. This is when Voidcaller goes full Twin Peaks. Her mental journey leaves her with more questions than answers…but it does supply a clue. And a warning not to look too closely for answers. That statement feels as meant for us as it is for Anna. The harder you look at the meaning of each thing…the more of a headache you are going to get. Does everything add up by the time the credits roll on Voidcaller? Maybe? The truth is that this is more of an experience than a simple narrative. It works quite well as one. You’ll want to watch it again the moment it ends to try and piece together what you missed…or confirm what you think. Warning be damned.
The ensemble cast fully buys in to the tone of Voidcaller. Senghore shines in the closest thing to a lead role the story has. Her journey is mostly internal. The movie forces her to confront the fears that are hidden inside of her lost memories without directly explaining what happened to her. She has the support of Alatalo’s stylish direction and a genuinely creepy mental companion that claims to be her sister. She grounds her story in Voidcaller no matter how out there it stretches.
Voidcaller boasts an excellent score that greatly enhances the mood of the piece. It also has some fantastic gore effects for the moments that need to provide a visceral reaction. Combined with Alatalo’s spectacular camera…Voidcaller turns a slight production into something truly impressive. It’s confusing…as cosmic horror often is. But it’s the good kind of confusing. The kind that makes you come back for more. Even if deep down you don’t want to know all its secrets.
Scare Value
Voidcaller is for the strange ones. It accomplishes a lot through pure talent. There are some mind-bendingly creative sequences. Does everything make sense while you are watching it? Not at all. Will you want to revisit it to experience it all again? Yes. It even throws some fun gore effects in for the real sickos. Something for every kind of crazy.
