NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Indicator Blu-ray (February 2022): Indicator have transferred Kevin Billington's Voices to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "new restoration from a 4K scan of the original separation masters by Powerhouse Films". Voices was shot on a mixture of film and video and, generally, the exteriors are from 35mm and the interiors look quite a bit different shot on video with the inherent weaknesses of that format; chroma and visible noise that is a dramatic downgrade from the film-look of the exteriors. It is on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate and the unfortunate look of the video-shot interiors don't translate well to 1080P but after a while it is forgotten and you can settle into the narrative. There is a restoration video piece as a supplement on the Blu-ray which Chris Frankland describes the black and white separation of the film so there were three separate channels which when combined together create a color image. This usually establishes a better shelf-life for the colors and they are fairly rich and bold in the HD presentation. Michael Brooke discusses the 35mm and video tape mixture ('film' book-ending Voices with video tape used for the bulk of the middle-section of the film) used to create Voices. He states that the shift in quality is intended and fully representational of how it appeared to theatrical-viewing audiences.

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On their Blu-ray, Indicator use a linear PCM 1.0 channel mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. Voices has few aggressive bass-ey moments and it's fairly flat but has a wonderfully dramatic score by Richard Rodney Bennett (Secret Ceremony, Billy Liar Figures in a Landscape Far From the Madding Crowd, The Witches, Equus, The Man Who Could Cheat Death) that adds to the mysterious atmosphere via the lossless transfer. Indicator offer optional English subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Indicator Blu-ray offers a new commentary by film experts Barry Forshaw (author of British Gothic Cinema) and Kim Newman (author of Nightmare Movies: Horror on Screen Since the 1960s). They are always extremely informative and enthusiastic. They discuss a myriad of films that may have tangential links to Voices including Herk Harvey's Carnival of Souls and Alejandro Amenábar's The Others (not a rip-off.) They talk about the strained marital relationship of David Hemmings and Gayle Hunnicutt at the time of shooting and a lot on both of their careers. It's excellent. Wide Boys is new and runs 18-minute - it has film historian Vic Pratt who charts the ups and downs of John Daly and David Hemmings’ production company, Hemdale. Mon Brave! is also new running shy of 8-minutes and has filmmaker Peter Crane recalling his personal and professional relationship with Hemmings. Voices from the Past is a short piece mentioned above about the restoration. Included is Indicator's usual image gallery of promotional and publicity material and this package has a limited edition exclusive 36-page booklet featuring a new essay by Julian Upton, archival interviews with actors Hemmings and Gayle Hunnicutt, a look at the source play, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits.

Kevin Billington's Voices was originally produced to be an hour-long and the 1.5 hour does seem to have some middling filler. It strayed away from the horror aspects but still has enough mystery to make it a intriguingly interesting viewing with an informal chamber-piece feel. David Hemmings and Gayle Hunnicutt, predictably, carry the film's riddles and suspicions to its conclusion. It's a fine choice for a cinematic re-examination and I am very happy with the Indicator Blu-ray adding value by the inclusion of the commentary and other extras. Absolutely recommended!

Gary Tooze