Review: Sound of Violence

The horror genre has been a haven for original ideas paired with exciting, inventive execution over the past few years. From the deeply metaphorical, arthouse films of directors like Robert Eggers and Ari Aster, to more campy, fun affairs like Velvet Buzzsaw and Mandy, there is a wealth of quality horror to pick from for any taste.

Following the murder of her family as a child, the hearing-impaired Alexis (Jasmin Savoy Brown) not only regains her hearing, but develops synthesia triggered by listening to, well, the sound of violence. Now a college music student, Alexis discovers her pleasure in listening to pain is increased by perpetrating the violence herself. Setting out to create a musical magnus opus created from the sounds which trigger her synthesia, Alexis begins travelling down a violent path in the name of art.

When hearing of the synopsis for Alex Noyer’s debut feature SOUND OF VIOLENCE, I was excited for another title from a fresh voice to join the above ranks of indie horror (a perhaps unfair expectation).Upon finishing SOUND OF VIOLENCE, while it certainly does not reach the heights of it’s much-loved contemporaries, drawing comparisons between them isn’t not as unfair as originally thought. Despite its edgy premise, SOUND OF VIOLENCE is far from cutting edge itself thanks to Noyer’s penchant for cribbing from almost every stylistic trend of the current ‘high horror’ zeitgeist. 

This is most apparent during the film’s violent moments in which Alexis experiences synthesia, where the screen is consumed by a fantastical flashing blue and red neon palette reminiscent of Mandy and She Dies Tomorrow. The disjointed series of murders throughout also harken back to early-2000s slasher franchises such as Saw and Final Destination where the main appeal is in seeing how far the gore and creativity envelopes can be pushed with each kill. The problem is exacerbated here given that the majority of the film is spent on set-up.

Most disappointing though is the soundtrack. For a film where musical creativity is one of its main concerns, and varied instruments such as the harp and theremin are used narratively, a more experimental approach to the soundtrack would’ve tied nicely into the film’s themes. Instead, the low-droning tracks which fill the background during its quieter moments feel generic, and left me with a bugging feeling I had heard them somewhere before. (This is likely more a result of current trends rather than any one musical inspiration, although Disasterpiece and Cliff Martinez come to mind). 

Outside of its derivative aspects, SOUND OF VIOLENCE has more serious problems to contend with. On a technical level the list is long: there is the bland cinematography with some distracting lens flare; wooden acting and cliché-ridden dialogue which makes it difficult to discern if the film’s serious moments are satire or not; an over-reliance on flashbacks that do nothing; and a painstakingly ham-fisted script. At one point, an exposition dump delivered only to Alexis begins with “And as you know…”. 

But more troubling is the correlation the film draws between atypical neurology, sexuality, and violent tendencies. It is made clear that Alexis’s PTSD and synethesia are her direct motivators for committing murder, with each graphic event cutting to her becoming aroused while visual-representations of her synthesia are overlaid on screen. Mental illness, PTSD, and atypical neurology have been a crutch for horror to lazily and offensively pin its villain’s actions on for decades, and it’s disappointing that it continues so blatantly in 2021. 

On top of this there is also queer-baiting thrown in for good measure. The unrequited love between Alexis and her female roommate sees her jealousy encourage her to murder her roomate’s (male) love interest – not helping the already harmful representation of LGBTQ+ persons in horror.  

All of this negativity isn’t to say that SOUND OF VIOLENCE is completely devoid of a good time. The film delivers on its promise of being an ‘auditory slasher’. Although a jarring, confusing tonal clash with its otherwise serious demeanour, SOUND OF VIOLENCE’s murders are a graphic, silly delight if taken on their own. It is here that the film feels as though it finally hits its stride in both execution and concept, with each kill fully leaning into the concept’s ridiculousness thanks to high-quality gore and special effects matched with fantastic, skin-crawling sound design so that each stab, blood splatter, and blunt-force thud lands with the appropriate impact.

Despite its brief glimmers of greatness in the form of over-the-top violent set-pieces, SOUND OF VIOLENCE’s over-indulgence in the tropes of the horror genre and its inability to commit to whether it is silly or serious make it a film that lacks an identity of its own – a gigantic shame given the potential of its premise.

2021 | USA | DIRECTOR: Alex Noyer | WRITERS: Alex Noyer | CAST: Jasmin Savoy Brown, Lili Simmons, James Jagger, Tessa Munro | DISTRIBUTOR: Gravitas Ventures, SXSW 2021 | RUNNING TIME: 94 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 16-20 March 2021 (SXSW), 21 May 2021 (USA)