With ‘undertone’ making itself heard in theaters this week, we look at six horror films where the sound design is the star.
Hear that? That’s me revving up to go off about the importance of sound in movies. Often overlooked and underappreciated, sound design can make or break a film. Especially in horror. After all, a good jump scare is nothing without an effective stinger. That eerie atmosphere that creeps under your skin and builds dread? It doesn’t exist without the right soundscape. Film may be a visual medium, but ever since the rise of “talkies” in the late 1920s, audio has been just as vital.
Think of the ki-ki-ki-ma-ma-ma that follows Jason Voorhees wherever he goes. The skin-prickling gurgle of Kayako in The Grudge. The groaning cacophony of the undead in George A. Romero’s zombie films. None of those moments would hit nearly as hard without the brilliant sound design that rattles out of the speakers and straight into your nervous system.
That’s why A24’s undertone arriving in theaters this week feels like the perfect excuse to celebrate audio-driven horror (read our Sundance review). With that in mind, here are six auditory nightmares to whet your appetite. Films that use sound to burrow under your skin, trap you in their atmosphere, and pummel you with soundscapes designed to drive you mad.
Listen closely. One of them might already be creeping up behind you…
Berberian Sound Studio
Courtesy of Artificial Eye
Director Peter Strickland likes his films strange and obscure (see In Fabric), and Berberian Sound Studio delivers that at full volume.
In it, we meet Gilderoy (Toby Jones), a sound engineer hired to work on an Italian horror film trafficking in witches and extreme violence against women. What the gore-adverse man thought was going to be a movie about horses turns out to be anything but, as he’s forced to witness stabbings, decapitations, and fire pokers shoved where the sun don’t shine. Sounds of madness evolve into true insanity as life begins to imitate art.
Berberian Sound Studio is a movie made for audiophiles like myself. It fully envelops the viewer in the world of sound design, offering an atmospheric soundscape of full-tilt, brutal Italian horror without ever showing a single frame of the grotesque happenings. By the time the credits roll, you feel as mad as ole’ Gilderoy. Poor guy just wanted to work on a movie about horse girls.
Blow Out
Courtesy of Filmways Pictures
Am I stretching the “horror” label a bit with this one? Maybe. But hey, I make the rules here, and I can’t not include one of the greatest audio-driven suspense thrillers ever made.
Philadelphia’s Liberty Day is approaching, and sound engineer Jack (John Travolta) needs to find the perfect scream for the trashy horror movie he’s working on. While out recording some nighttime atmosphere, he witnesses a car crash that leaves the mayor dead and his midnight hookup, Sally (Nancy Allen), barely alive. What seemed to be a blowout, though, may actually have been a gunshot, dropping the pair into the middle of a political conspiracy. A plot with a killer (John Lithgow) who will do anything to tie up the loose ends.
Brian De Palma was heavily influenced by Alfred Hitchcock, and Blow Out may be one of his finest works. With a premise based around the audio recording of a gunshot, the director wraps the audience in an atmospheric soundscape promising suspense at every turn. It also contains a shot of Nancy Allen in front of an American flag and screaming one of the most guttural screams you’ve ever heard. An image and sound that’s as powerful as they come.
Hush
Courtesy of Netflix
Remember when I said a lack of sound can sometimes be attributed to pitch-perfect sound design? Mike Flanagan’s Hush is an excellent example. As the tagline says, “Silence can be killer”.
Deaf and mute writer Maddie (Kate Siegel) lives alone in the woods and is at work on her next novel. But after a sadistic killer sets his eyes on her, the novelist finds herself in survival mode. Unable to hear him approaching, she must use her wits and ability to predict various outcomes to take him down.
Oculus may have put Flanagan on the horror map, but Hush cemented him as one of our next great filmmakers. Rather than fill the film with eerie atmospherics, we’re put into the silent world of Maddie. Again and again, Flanagan finds moments to plunge the audience into silence as the killer approaches unbeknownst to the clever protagonist. Maximum suspense results. Best of all, though, our hero finds ways to turn her disability into a strength and fight back with noise. It’s a thrilling tale of survival that warns when it comes to writers, fuck around and find out.
Masking Threshold
Courtesy of Draftbox Films
Remember that episode of The Office where Gabe (Zach Woods) puts on a tape of random, grotesque images at the Halloween party? Imagine that, but actually effective.
Johannes Grenzfurthner’s experimental descent into madness follows a man suffering from an obscure form of tinnitus that doctors can neither identify nor treat. He begins to search for answers on his own through increasingly discomforting experiments. Soon, he believes he has discovered the sound of death, leading to some rather stomach-churning tests.
Masking Threshold aims for a certain unpleasantness that wishes for the audience to feel as on edge as the lead character. Presented entirely as close-ups of the experiments while narrated by the protagonist, Grenzfurthner gets us up close and personal with fungus, raw meat, and even a severed penis. All of it accompanied by a persistent warbling that at times becomes a shrieking, high-frequency sound in moments of horror. It’s disturbing. It’s incredibly uncomfortable. And it’s definitely not for everyone. But as far as audio-driven horror goes, it’s a fascinating film.
Pontypool
Courtesy of Maple Pictures
Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can never hurt you. Unless you live in the universe of Pontypool. Then you’re screwed.
Bruce McDonald’s Canadian shocker centers on Grant (Stephen McHattie), a radio host who arrives for what’s supposed to be a typical night on the job. But as frantic calls begin pouring in describing hordes of people losing their minds, the cold night turns dreary. A deadly virus has broken out. One that infects not through the body, but through speech itself.
Set entirely within a contained radio station, Pontypool is a bottle story of apocalyptic proportions. Rather than observe the chaos occurring just outside the station’s walls, we hear it instead. Wails of the infected. The death cries of victims. And the chilling hiss of empty static. What we imagine is always scarier than what we see, a technique that McDonald delivers with masterful precision. More than that, it’s a film about the power of language and the way that repeated phrases can warp our minds. Hmm, might be a good time to invest in some noise-cancelling headphones.
The Block Island Sound
Courtesy of Title Media
The McManus Brothers’ The Block Island Soundcombines two of my favorite things…eerie sound design and aquatic horror.
Just off the coast of Block Island, something emits a strange sound, driving residents to madness. Following the death of his father, Harry (Chris Sheffield) finds himself tormented by the creepy roar. He begins to black out and commit a series of violent acts, coming closer and closer to the ones he loves.
The Block Island Sound dunks audiences into Harry’s nightmare from the beginning as we hear what might either be the thunderous grumblings of a Lovecraftian fiend, or a seriously starved stomach…maybe both. The film blends ideas of electromagnetic hypersensitivity—people more or less allergic to electronics—with the devastating hunger of alcoholism. The louder the perpetual sound gets, the worse Harry’s acts become. And for those who think they know where The Block Island Sound is going, I promise…this one will surprise you.
“Impressively, undertone manages to deliver the first successful podcast narrative I’ve seen on screen. If you thought the podcaster archetype was already worn thin in genre storytelling, you’ll be happy to hear director Tuason is the first to use the device to its full, terrifying potential. The way the film structures it’s lead character’s work is pivotal to both the story and the scares. Not to personalize, but as a horror podcaster myself, I went into this film with caution that bordered on pre-determination. I wrong to worry. Tuason weaponizes the medium and its soundscapes to create a film that’s both fresh and fine-tuned. In his hands, sound horror is no novelty. Instead, it’s totally necessary.
Tuason’s film succeeds because it understands its scope without being confined by it. Instead, he finds creative freedom in its structure. Grounded performances, precise control of story, and a clear command of sound and space anchor the film as it stretches its arms well beyond its handful of walls. He’s definitely one worth paying close attention to.”
undertone is in theaters this Friday the 13th from A24. Get your tickets here.
