Don’t Listen – Netflix Review (2/5)

DON’T LISTEN is a Netflix Horror movie from Spain (org. title Voces). It might please some horror fans while others will surely be left wanting more. I’m in that latter category. Many of the plot elements will feel familiar and it’s a bit messy. Read our Don’t Listen movie review here!

DON’T LISTEN is a Netflix Horror movie that features both ghosts and witches. It’s a Spanish movie with the original title Voces and since we tend to love movies from Spain here at Heaven of Horror, we’re off to a good start. Unfortunately, our expectations for this Spanish horror movie weren’t really met with this new Netflix addition.

Overall, it’s too messy and goes in too many different directions for my liking. However, do stick around for the end credit scene at the very end since this does seem to lead to a sequel.

Continue reading our Don’t Listen movie review below.

Utterly unengaging

My main issue with Don’t Listen is the fact that I found it to be utterly unengaging. I never felt like I got to know the characters very well. Mainly because I couldn’t feel the connection between these characters. Often, you get to know people by how they are with other people. I felt completely disconnected from most of the story because I had no feelings about these relationships.

Just to be clear, I think all the actors did good jobs in this movie. The story just did not work for me in most ways. There is a whole witch-element that does nothing good for the movie. Even the jump scares miss the mark for me on most occasions. The one thing that really did work for me was the final plot twist.

I was pretty unengaged with the characters but loved the darkness of this storyline element.

Some familiar faces in Voces

There are actually several familiar faces in this Netflix movie. Especially if you’ve watched some of the recent Spanish Netflix additions. Ramón Barea plays Germán in this movie and was in Twin Murders: The Silence of the White City and in The Invisible Guardian (2017).

Nerea Barros plays a small supporting character and was previously in the Netflix series Bitter Daisies. Also, body horror actor Javier Botet (32 Malasana Street) is in this movie in a cameo role (a fan getting his book signed) but I suspect he also does some additional work in other scenes. Yes, in terms of his classic body horror amazingness.

Rodolfo Sancho plays the lead character in Don’t Listen and I loved him in the Películas para no dormir anthology segment “La habitación del niño” (or “The Baby’s Room”) from 2006. Now that was an awesome horror story! Ana Fernández from the Netflix series Cable Girls also has a big role in this new horror movie.

Watch Don’t Listen on Netflix now!

Don’t Listen is the first feature film from director Ángel Gómez Hernández who directed nine short films prior to making this feature-length movie. His next movie was recently announced and it has the title The Pope’s Exorcist which does make it sound promising already. Especially if he can leave witches out the next time. 

Ángel Gómez Hernández also came up with the idea for Don’t Listen along with Victor Gado. Ultimately, the screenwriter credit goes to Santiago Díaz who also worked on the story along with Juan Moreno. Usually, when so many people (we’re up to four in total) work on the story, I tend to get nervous about the result.

If the many writers attached to this story is the reason it felt so unhinged and unconnected is just a guess.

However, if you’re in the mood for a Netflix movie that uses all the familiar horror elements – and will feel strangely familiar – then Don’t Listen should be a safe choice.

Don’t Listen (org. title Voces) is out on Netflix from November 27, 2020.

Details

Director: Ángel Gómez Hernández
Writers: Santiago Díaz, Ángel Gómez Hernández, Víctor Gado, Juan Moreno
Stars: Rodolfo Sancho, Ana Fernández, Ramón Barea, Belén Fabra, Nerea Barros