Ancient Voice is a low-budget indie horror short filmed and produced in Turkey. The film follows Zeynep and her informant, Efe, who reveals to her the existence of the legendary Obur, a vampire-like creature from Turkish mythology. The film is directed by Can Sağır and was written by Erdeniz Tunç and Can Sağır.
Overall, one can feel that the overall production value of the film is very low-budget. The film is seemingly shot on phones or perhaps Go-Pro like devices. Still, it tries to use standard shots and angles rather than the found footage style typically associated with your typical lower-end indie productions. In all fairness, the shots were done pretty well and the film flowed with good pacing, even with some questionable edits sprinkled here and there.
The tone of the film as well as the pacing were great, though if I hadn’t read the synopsis, I’d have found the story a little confusing. There is no direct information that we are given that the lead is a “journalist” apart from the fact that she seems to be keeping a literal journal about the events she witnessed. We also have little to no background on the “Efe” character and the relationship between these two. The narrative, therefore, takes a backseat to the other aspects of the film.
My biggest complaint would have to have been the audio, which could have definitely used some more tweaking. I’m not sure if it was due to the different devices possibly used to create the film, but the volume and quality of the audio switched from scene to scene, which bugged me considerably. The score for the film wasn’t bad at all though and was surprisingly suitable and clean.
The creature reveal is arguably the best part of the film, and probably where most, if not all, of the film’s budget went. We get a flashy scene with what is either some beautiful makeup artistry or some neat special effects. It’s very “blink and you’ll miss it” but it works with the film’s buildup and as the focal point. The ending that comes after is expected, making it a little lazy and overused, but I’m not expecting new, young filmmakers to be raising the bar (The writer is only 18 so I’m expecting the rest of the team to be similarly aged).
It is a solid attempt for an introductory indie film and we’re always happy to welcome new blood into the horror community. Could the film have used some more polish? Absolutely, especially in regards to the audio issues, but overall, I found the film to be entertaining and fun, albeit a bit predictable. Let us hope that Sağır and Tunç continue to work together on future productions. Thanks for reading and as always, stay sordid.
