Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    HORROR SCREAMS VIDEO VAULT – SUPPORTING INDEPENDENT HORROR
    • Home
    • Film Reviews
      • Films Beginning With Numbers or Symbols
      • A – C
      • D – F
      • G – I
      • J – L
      • M – O
      • P – R
      • S – U
      • V – X
      • Y – Z
    • Book Reviews
    • Franchise Corner
    • Competitions
    • Horror Screams Podcast
    • Contact Us
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    HORROR SCREAMS VIDEO VAULT – SUPPORTING INDEPENDENT HORROR

    Film Review: SOUND OF VIOLENCE (2021)

    Steven WestBy Steven West30th August 2021Updated:30th August 202120 Comments3 Mins Read

    SOUND OF VIOLENCE **** USA / Finland 2021 Dir: Alex Noyer. 93 mins

    Writer-director Alex Noyer’s feature debut is an expansion of his exceptional 2018 short Conductor and reaffirms him as a talent to watch. Told via voiceover narration, it opens in 2002, with young, deaf Alexis (Kamia Benge) struggling to understand the mental state of her PTSD-afflicted father, who quivers silently at the dinner table before finally snapping and bludgeoning her family to death with a meat hammer. She survives by carrying out an act of extreme violence herself, and the act has a miraculous effect on her hearing. As the narration notes ominously, “All I could think of is that I needed to feel it again”.

    When the action shifts to present day, with Alexis now played by the charismatic Jasmin Savoy Brown, she is a student on the path to fulfilling her music teaching ambitions. Her hearing is also starting to falter, and she is compelled to resort to using brutal trauma as a solution. After recording an S&M session, and ignoring the masochist’s safe word in order to get what she needs, Alexis begins elaborate experimentation with sounds and racks up a body count in the process- starting (in a nod to The Driller Killer) by abducting and entrapping a test-subject homeless guy in an elaborately rigged mechanism that simultaneously creates musical beats.

    Here we have a high concept spin on giallo / slasher territory, with a good cast (Lili Simmons is appealing, if under-used as Alexis’ roommate) and sterling, Argento-inspired cinematography by Daphne Qin Wu. The intricately staged murder scenes are rich with black humour: note the volunteer who sings the U.S. National Anthem while not overly perturbed by the electrodes fixed to his imminently exploding head. There is an outstanding, superbly executed art gallery sequence involving the horrifying fate of a harpist that exists in some beautifully grisly netherworld between the Saw movies and Argento at his most artful.

    It’s not perfect: a dull sub-plot following some (deliberately?) banal cops joining the dots at successive crime scene intrudes, at the expense of spending more time with the compelling Alexis and the woman she not so secretly loves. In between gory set pieces, the pace sometimes lags. However, it’s still a stylish, inventive take on familiar territory – and the final beach-set sequence has a truly arresting image almost worthy of peak-era Cronenberg.

    Review by Steven West

     

    SOUND OF VIOLENCE is available on Amazon

     

    FacebookLikeShareTweetPin
    Alex Noyer argento Dazzler Media exploding head Giallo harp Jasmin Savoy Brown Lili Simmons massacre Saw Slasher Sound of Violence The Driller Killer

    Related Posts

    Dark horror-comedy THE SHADOW OF DEATH coming soon to Digital Platforms from VIPCO & BayView Entertainment

    4th December 202301 Min Read
    Read More

    THE JESTER (from the creator of The Blair Witch Project) out now in UK cinemas

    15th November 202301 Min Read
    Read More

    Lionsgate UK presents SAW X to buy and rent

    9th November 202301 Min Read
    Read More

    Animated family film HOW TO SAVE THE IMMORTAL in UK cinemas from 27th October 2023!

    26th October 202301 Min Read
    Read More

    20 Comments

    1. Sean Lambourne on 16th October 2021 2:04 PM

      The Leftovers

      Log in to Reply
    2. LESLEY BRADLEY on 16th October 2021 10:09 AM

      The Leftovers

      Log in to Reply
    3. Ian Yates on 15th October 2021 8:01 PM

      The Leftovers.

      Log in to Reply
    4. Mickie Bull on 10th October 2021 4:12 PM

      The Leftovers

      Log in to Reply
    5. Christopher Read on 8th October 2021 11:45 PM

      The Leftovers

      Log in to Reply
    6. Mel Pennie on 2nd October 2021 9:29 PM

      The Leftovers

      Log in to Reply
    7. Patricia Barrett on 2nd October 2021 8:58 PM

      The Leftovers

      Log in to Reply
    8. Adrian Bold on 2nd October 2021 3:58 PM

      The Leftovers

      Log in to Reply
    9. Geoff Hibbert on 2nd October 2021 3:36 AM

      The Leftovers

      Log in to Reply
    10. Nancy on 30th September 2021 3:46 AM

      The Leftovers

      Log in to Reply
    ← Older Comments

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    You must be logged in to post a comment.

    Recent Posts
    • Ho-Ho-Horror; THE MEAN ONE is coming to ruin Christmas!
    • Fairlight by Adrian Chamberlin, out now on Kindle and Paperback from Crystal Lake Publishing.
    • 5000 SPACE ALIENS invades Digital worldwide
    • Demonic possession horror THE EXORCISM TAPES coming to Digital Platforms
    • THE EXORCIST UNTOLD comes to DVD and Digital on 11th December 2023
    Archives
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.