"Sound of Violence" 2021

Directed by Alex Noyer

I was very intrigued by the concept behind "Sound of Violence". Centering a hard of hearing/deaf protagonist who experiences synesthesia as a PTSD response and turns to a life of serial killing is an utterly fascinating concept! It truly has all the things that get me feeling buzzy-buzzy about a movie, but ultimately missed the bullseye. It's not great, but it's not bad either. It's also not exactly good, but it's incredibly creative with a heck of a lead actress (please cast her in more things she deserves to shine!) and I want those aspects to be appreciated because they're worth it. I gave the movie 3.5 stars on Letterboxd, but I feel like I should explain myself on that as it's not quite fully deserving on plot, but of course - as is my trademark - it's so pretty to look at that I didn't want to dunk it into the dregs pile of cinematic refuse.

Anyway, here's my breakdown, and we will get the negative out of the way because I hate leaving things on a sour note.

Things I found lacking:

- implied dog death that doesn't do much by way of story exactly

- Did not see remember seeing any inclusion of Strobe/Flashing imagery and Binaural Beats, but it's REAL bad for folks with sensory issues

- Magical cure for disabilities, and the overall desire to cure one's disability instead of accepting it

- Violent depictions of domestic abuse and child abuse that I'm just tired of seeing

- Rampant ableism without much recourse, and thus a missed opportunity to drive the point home of ableism in academia

- Homophobia by way of queer villain murderer status

- The air of it being a special extended TV Crime show episode for Halloween instead of a psychosexual horror-thriller

- The fact that she is an art school student, but her music definitely isn't vegan because they're not ethical consent killings, and everyone knows that a legal requirement for going to school for The Arts is that you must be vegan. Don't believe me? Just go on her campus, or any art school campus, and ask someone if they'd like a steak. You'll see what I mean. Really removed all the believability for me in one go on this fact, tbh, but I gave it some slack because it's real pretty.

Things I loved:

- The concept of adding psychedelic visuals to trauma and violence which added a conflicting and uncomfortable beauty to all of the ugliness, which I thought made the brutality even more alarming and jarring.

- PRETTY COLORS PRETTY COLORS PRETTY COLORS

- Giallo-esque visuals and saturated colors

- A creative reinvention to SAW-style murders mostly involving "the arts" in some way, and feats of engineering

- Strong female main character and side character

- Inclusion of utilizing the arts as a vehicle to work through sensory processing issues and mental illness (no, it still wasn't healthy but I can appreciate the concept here, ha!)

- Major sapphic vibesssss

- Wildly interesting and totally killer soundtrack

- Absolutely bonkers final experimental kill scene that is really worth at least watching for that alone because it's just ridiculous and I cannot even fathom coming up with that idea in the writers’ room

- the soul crushing experience of pursuing The Arts in any Academic setting

- the hilarious (possibly accidentally) comedic pretentious dickwads of art school and art gallery affairs in the "professional" and academic art worlds

- pursuing an obsession for creativity to unhealthy levels, taking a tool for processing into the realm of addiction (and then murder haha).

Also here's a giant list of all the triggering content I noted while watching: Nonstop brutal murders on screen, torture and gore, classism, flashing lights and bright visuals, sound elements that may bother those with hearing issues or assistive listening devices, childhood trauma, PTSD, ableism, implied animal death, drug use, abusive households/families and domestic abuse, crime scenes, gaslighting, extreme body horror, homophobia (as always, if you've seen it and I've missed an important one let me know in a comment and I'll amend!)'

Review by Ellen Avigliano
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