WFG RATING: B+

SpookHouse Mediaworks presents an Enigma Media Productions film. Written, directed, and edited by Miroslav Petkov. Produced by Miroslav Petkov and Simona Rose. Cinematography by Petar Ganchev.

Stars Miroslav Petkov, Nikol Topalova, Nikola Ganchev, Velin Borata, Simona Grozeva, Kevin Duffy, with Simona Rose, and Rudy Ledbetter.

A continuation of the short films Whisper and Whisper 2, director Miroslav Petkov’s first feature film brings it all together from the point of views of four people.

It has been days since the disappearances of 19-year-old Sophie Summers and 25-year-old Magdalena “Maggie” Markova near Bonnivar Park. When news reporter Simon Peterson becomes the latest victim, things are thrown into chaos. However, there are a few people ready to investigate the disappearances and quite frankly, they are ready to face the truth.

Nick Parker is Sophie’s boyfriend and an argument with him had led to Sophie going to the park, causing her disappearance. Alex Markov, Maggie’s brother, is determined to find both Sophie and Nick and despite reservations, he asks the reclusive investigator Caine for help. However, learning of not only those disappearances and another one as well, a young woman named Gwen finds herself going to Bonnivar Park in hopes to discover the truth about the deadly secrets that harbor this park.

Originally meant to act as a third installment of his supernatural short film series, Miroslav Petrov had instead decided to make this a feature film that would serve as both bridges and in some ways a fitting conclusion to the story of a series of disappearances in a local park. The stories of the two shorts are revealed in the first few minutes of the film with Rudy Ledbetter’s Simon Peterson giving us a news update and ends up eventually becoming a victim himself.

What Petrov does with the narrative here is show the after and bridge events through the eyes of four different people, bringing to mind films like Rashomon and Back to the Future II, where we see events from different points of view. Petrov himself also goes in front of the camera as one of the central characters in Alex, the hard-drinking brother of victim Maggie, played by Simona Rose. His story is quite fascinating as his investigation leads him to a somewhat alternate universe/dream sequence where he’s seen as an actor in a hospital. When the doctor, played by Simona Rose, tells him she was in a short horror film, we have a reference to Petrov’s fun short Drums.

We also get the point of view of Nick, played by Nikola Ganchev. As the long-suffering boyfriend of missing victim Sophie, he is racked with guilt as his argument with her leads to her being gone. He gets forgiveness from her mother but is met with a bit of resistance from Alex, who blames him for both Sophie and Maggie’s disappearances. Velin Borata’s Caine is seen as the town freak, perhaps because he has some sort of power that draws him to the park and like Alex and Nick, also has a loved one who has gone missing and is plagued by nightmares before he joins in to investigate the park disappearances.

Finally, there’s Nikol Topalova’s Gwen, the final character of this story, who is revealed to have been friends once with the Markovi siblings unless an incident forced them to dissent. For Gwen, it’s not a loved one missing, but more of finding redemption within herself and proving she can be a good friend as she also tries to help figure what exactly is going on in the old abandoned building near the park.

Whispers is quite intriguing in its narrative to see how the events unfolded are seen through four different points of view. While it would be good to see the two short films that precede this, it also holds out as a standalone film thanks to the editing style of Petrov and crew. An indie gem for supernatural horror fans.