The Voyeurs

In The Voyeurs, writer-director Michael Mohan takes all the lessons of the truly wild erotic thrillers of the 1990s and brings them into the modern age. With a dose of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and Brian De Palma’s Body Double, The Voyeurs perfectly captures all there is to love about the genre.

Mohan handles his audience with care, diligence, attentiveness, creativity, smoldering passion – the mind positively swims with sexual metaphors. That’s the headspace in which this film leaves us: a well-made gutter we haven’t had the chance to visit for far too long.

It’s hard to deny that Michael Mohan’s preposterous fable doesn’t exert the dark pull of voyeurism itself.

From the stiff leading performances to the clunky, pretentious dialogue, The Voyeurs often feels like an amateur outing, but there’s also genuine wit in the film’s visual storytelling (particularly a number of clever match cuts), and an unpredictable enough payoff in the third act that it makes for a fresh, memorable viewing experience.

One wonders how a master of truly twisted movies — say, a David Lynch or a Brian De Palma — would have approached “The Voyeurs.” One suspects they would have a bit more fun and taken us further down the moral rabbit hole. And the sex would have been better too.

Writer-director Michael Mohan’s film plays like rehashed leftovers cooked up for young viewers who’ve never seen any of its superior inspirations.

Writer-director Michael Mohan’s “drama” tries to be a modern Rear Window (emphasis on “rear”), but Hitchcock it ain’t. The Voyeurs is a cheap, never-ending trifle that takes itself more seriously than Hamlet.

difficult start but worth it. strong performers and strong plot. can lead to discussions.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

In an extension of Hitchcock’s Rear Window concept, a young couple (Sydney Sweeney and Justice Smith) moves into their new loft and discovers a view of their sexually-active neighbors (Ben Hardy and Natasha Liu Bordizzo). What starts as a fun curiosity, expectedly turns dark and twisty. This erotic thriller doesn’t deliver a lot on either account. Sure, there are some steamy scenes, but they don’t have much passion. Sure, it has some plot surprises, but never generates much tension. The performances aren’t especially compelling either. Overall, this film sufficiently fills in the blanks without being exceptional.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

bad [ bad ] adjective, worse, worst;(Slang) bad·der, bad·dest for 36. not good in any manner or degree.