Film

The Voices

Ryan Reynolds anchors this pitch-black comedy-horror about a factory worker whose cat and dog offer opposing moral counsel—one urging violence, one toward redemption. It's visually inventive, genuinely unsettling, and darkly funny in ways that require a stomach for both gore and absurdism. For viewers comfortable with serious mental illness played for laughs and horror.

TMDb rating3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy black comedy that lurches into genuinely unsettling territory and don't mind staying with a protagonist whose inner life is both hilarious and disturbing.

Skip it if you find jolts of gore hard to sit through, because the film mixes cosy whimsy with blood and the swerves can feel more jarring than funny.

What it asks of you: Expect a brisk 104 minutes of sudden tonal lurches, with the whole thing resting on Reynolds carrying both the comedy and the bleakness with a perfectly straight face.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Nightcrawler2014

Jake Gyllenhaal's sociopath protagonist chases darkness with similar moral vacancy and mounting dread. Bleak, propulsive, and structured around a character's unraveling—it hits the same nerve.

But Relentlessly grim without comedic relief. If you want laughs alongside the darkness, this offers none.

Nightcrawler poster

American Psycho2000

Both films use a charismatic lead to make monstrosity darkly funny, blending satire with genuine horror. Christian Bale's Patrick Bateman shares Jerry's mask-wearing and internal chaos.

But It's dated in places, and the satire occasionally overwhelms the horror. Some find it more smug than scary.

American Psycho poster

In Bruges2008

Martin McDonagh's violent dark comedy pairs existential dread with absurdist humour and moral ambiguity. It proves you can be both funny and haunted without choosing sides.

But Dialogue-heavy and philosophically meandering. If plot momentum matters more than character, it drags.

In Bruges poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Voices

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Lobster2015

Both films weaponise talking animals to explore psychological collapse and societal pressure. Both are visually precise about internal chaos. Both refuse easy conclusions.

Yorgos Lanthimos made a film where single people are turned into animals if they can't find a partner. It's absurdist horror-comedy with animal voices and philosophical dread. Same DNA as The Voices but in a different language and register entirely.

But Deadpan, slow, Greek-Austrian co-production in English that sounds like no English film you've heard. If you need momentum and accessibility, it's deliberately withholding.

The Lobster poster
More like this (7)

Hannibal2013

Mads Mikkelsen's Hannibal is articulate, tortured, and visually gorgeous—a psychological horror series that makes monstrosity seductive. Brilliant sound design and unsettling intimacy throughout.

But Deliberately slow-burn and formal. Season two especially tests patience. Also cancelled mid-story, which stings.

Hannibal poster

You're the Worst2014

Chronologically scrambled narrative and characters making terrible choices while remaining weirdly sympathetic. It finds comedy in genuine psychological damage without ever letting you forget the damage is real.

But The couple at its centre are objectively insufferable. If you need likeable characters, this will exhaust you.

You're the Worst poster

Sorry!1981

Louis C.K. plays a catastrophically broken man whose internal monologue ruins everything. Dark, uncomfortable, shaped entirely by one character's psychological wreckage.

But Louis C.K.'s personal behaviour creates unavoidable context. The show's darkness can feel tedious rather than revelatory.

Sorry! poster

Killing Zoe1993

Roger Avary's fever-dream heist film is formally wild and genuinely disturbing, mixing stylish violence with psychological collapse. A companion piece to The Voices' refusal to be tidy.

But Incoherent plotting and dated late-90s excess. If you need narrative clarity, you'll feel lost and frustrated.

Killing Zoe poster

God Help the Girl2014

Stuart Murdoch's musical about a woman in psychiatric care trying to hold herself together. Same year as The Voices, similarly interested in mental illness and beauty coexisting awkwardly.

But Relentlessly whimsical. The musical-fantasy coating might feel evasive if you want darkness treated with seriousness.

God Help the Girl poster

The King of Comedy1982

Both films live entirely inside a damaged man's head. Both find dark comedy in delusion. Both make the audience complicit in rooting for someone we shouldn't.

Scorsese and De Niro made a film about a deluded nobody trying to become famous—uncomfortably funny, genuinely disturbing, and utterly committed to the protagonist's warped reality. It's the comedy-horror ancestor The Voices learned from.

But Slow burn from the 80s with no violence to break the tension. If you're watching for plot mechanics rather than mood, you'll find it exhausting.

The King of Comedy poster

The Lighthouse2019

Both are chamber pieces about male psychological collapse with unreliable narration. Both use visual style to make internal chaos external. Both ask what's real when you're alone with your thoughts.

Two men in close quarters, descent into madness, voices (literal sea-madness), isolation, black-and-white formalism making psychological disintegration into myth. Visually stunning and genuinely unsettling without relying on gore.

But Intentionally impenetrable dialogue, no plot, just atmosphere and strangeness. Simultaneously boring and overwhelming—difficult to sit with.

The Lighthouse poster

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