A mystical thriller about regularly proving to everyone in her blog that there are no ghosts an American woman (which can be seen that provides a rich husband, her “job” she would hardly earn here). The budget, which has to fly where and when you want, which she does, at the same time with the help of her Macbook (any decent American woman and TP in films should be exclusively "Apple" production, how else) shows people that all the ghosts and other paranormal things they see are simply an effect of low sound frequencies in the district, and therefore there are hallucinations. I mean, it's all -- stupidly arrives, shows people on Macbook low frequencies, and leaves/flies away. Great work, especially supportive.
Dumb and gray film with a wooden main actress, but for some reason it is quite watchable and even atmospheric, perhaps due to the fact that almost all the action of the film takes place in an abandoned metro line.
Throughout the film instead of the soundtrack pressing drone track, which also contributes to a claustrophobic gloomy atmosphere. But apart from her, there is almost nothing to watch, and the plot itself simply stomps in place all the time.
I also remember the shimmering Christopher Lloyd. I Am Not a Serial Killer or Cold Moon.
If you suffer from insomnia, then this film will solve the problem.
The plot idea of the study of sound waves from a scientific point of view, their impact on the physical and mental state of a person in certain conditions (in this case in an abandoned underground station), seems quite interesting. Also, interest is warmed up by well-known actors, from whom you expect expression.
So let's start:
1. Who's Kelly Johansen? The character is not played and his whole story is superficially mentioned among the scenes. There are absolutely no character traits, details of personal or past life. Blogger amateur?
2. Most of the scenes in the film have no logic. We are offered to think up some scientific explanations and somewhere in our thoughts to finish the replicas of the heroes. Action here you can not wait, solid monotony and understatement.
3. The feeling that the characters were added to the script for extras, it is unclear how they intersect with each other in the plot, as if the actors just passed the set, and the mental hospital was mentioned for epicity. I was really waiting for the hero of Christopher Lloyd to show himself in mysterious madness or somehow direct the plot towards the end, but this never happened. Character flaw.
4. The scenery and the connection, of course, are not directly worthy of attention, but I am meticulous to the smallest detail. We do not really see any peron, or any stairs-escalators, or rails, tunnels, or benches! 90% of the film is continuous impenetrable darkness, wires, garbage and painted walls, as if the actions of the film take place in a mine in the style of post-apocalypse, tols in a cave, but clear water from the tap in a well-lit restroom and whole mirrors show us why. The entourage failed. The entrance to the mysterious abandoned station resembles a passage to Narnia, just go through unlocked doors and voila, no obstacles, no metro employees. Wi-Fi then show flawlessly working, or then suddenly disappearing along with mobile communication and, it would seem, it would be possible to link it in the plot with areas of paranormal activity, but again not.
5. The musical accompaniment of the film is the complete absence of any sensation of horror, mysticism, mystery, surprise. We are just lulled into a hum and noise of underground space throughout the film.
6. The ending of the film is again unanswered questions. We still do not explain how all the characters and storylines are connected, reducing everything to banal, namely, childhood injuries and a violation of mental perception. What about the sounds and the scientific explanation of the paranormal? What about the secondary heroes? No tragedy, drama, horror, irony or even devastation ... just nothing leaves behind the film.
There are a lot of questions and the main one is, “What did I just look at?” Like a kind of art house from 2nd year students of the Faculty of Directing, who decided to shoot a mystical horror, well, to add intrigue - wove science. Just minced from several storylines that Ms. Mattison failed to correctly link, it is interesting to present the characters and fix the icing on the cake with a tightening atmospheric video sequence.
Boring, monotonous, not thought out. The score deserves, perhaps, actors who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
2 out of 10
If you want to know what one of the Enchanted looks like, Rose McGowan, be sure to turn on the movie The Sound. If you don’t want to know, don’t watch the movie. You won't lose much. Novice director Jenna Mattison offered the viewer a terrifyingly boring horror film, which can hardly be seen to the end.
Judging by the content of “The Sound”, Mattison decided to take an example from Michael Hofström and tell the story of a man debunking ghost myths in his own way. If you’ve seen the movie 1408 with John Cusack, you’ll know what I mean. In the project of Mattison, the main character is a woman named Kelly Johansen, who, like the character of Cusack, travels around the cities and villages and is engaged in what proves to others that ghosts do not exist.
One day she receives an offer to go to a closed subway station in Toronto, where spirits live. Kelly bravely accepts the challenge and goes there. To refute the rumors and once again inform the readers of your blog that ghosts are a fiction and a figment of the human imagination and all this has a quite logical justification.
Continuing the theme of the similarity of “Sound” with “1408”, I want to note that in the film of 2017, the mental health of the main character is also questioned, and some people are not who they claim to be. In short, you can draw parallels with the horrors of Stephen King and if you have watched both films, you will understand what we are talking about.
“Sound” tried to take its toll at the expense of atmosphericity, but to be honest, I think the director overdid it. The picture in the film is too dark - you constantly have to strain your eyes to understand where the character McGowan is now. Watch such a movie should only be in good quality and preferably in the dark so that daylight or artificial does not interfere with you.
The explanation of this name can be determined by the fact that during the whole film the background sounds not music, but intense grinding, which can be compared with the immersion of a person’s head under water and the moment when he begins to hear sounds coming from the surface. This element of pressure does not introduce the horror factor into the cinema, although often directors use it, it simply puts pressure on the brain, dulling perception and causing irritation towards the film. If the director in this case tried to explain this sound as the sound of low frequencies – she succeeded, because at the end of the viewing, not only Kelly’s nose can go bleeding, but also the viewer.
Some of the scenarios were completely incomprehensible. For example, it is strange that an abandoned station is supported by artificial lighting and there regularly specially trained person changes the light bulbs. It is strange that Kelly Johansen, once at the station, investigating a specific legend, composed of events that occurred on the station, exactly on the platform, goes into the unthinkable wilds along the corners of the station, in fact moving away from the purpose of his investigation. It's strange there's a connection in the subway. I understand that it exists in the subway now, but not at stations that have been closed for decades. The presence of a connection can still be understood if the heroine was on the platform all the time, but the further she goes, the lower the signal level should be, and she communicates with her readers through hashtags regularly.
And already not the best impressions of the film smeared its ending, sliding to banalism and excessive simplification. It seemed that the director simply got confused in the heap of his thoughts, which at first had unclear outlines, and closer to the final blurred so much that the denouement came as if no one expected it.
But look at you. I do not impose my opinion on anyone.
I was interested in the idea of a film about the use of sound waves, as I myself work directly with sound. But the implementation of this idea in the film is so terrible that I am ashamed.
I’ll give you a few tips:
- The cast. It was nice to see the familiar and beloved faces of C. Lloyd and M. Eklund.
The intriguing basis of the film is based on the scientific explanation of otherworldly manifestations.
There are a lot more downsides. This is what the whole movie is about:
- Very long. You will miss the whole movie!
- Jenna Mattison as the director and screenwriter, as I understand it, is quite bad. To make history so incomprehensible, you have to try.
- To measure the sound level according to the creators of the film need in hertz, not in decibels - this is a fiasco.
- The acting is absolutely not outstanding. She's hardly here. And the main character looks like Michael Jackson in a wig behaves extremely inadequate and illogical.
- The cliché in the form of a idle / flashing flashlight is so tired that it is even surprising that the filmmakers use this technique without hesitation.
The soundtrack, which could be taken from any other movie or horror game, is absolutely not original. Basically, it is just a noise / hum, which is supposed to create a feeling of low-frequency vibrations, but in fact causes only a headache by the end of the film.
- Poor computer graphics, especially when moths appear. In 2017, it is a shame to release films with such graphics.
You could close your eyes to a lot of the downsides if the pitch and script were higher. I tried very hard to understand the essence of the main character’s flashbacks and her motivation, as well as the behavior of the detective, but the writer and director Jenna Mattison did everything so that no one understood this.
As a result, despite the intriguing title and star cast, interesting sounds here not to hear, and look here too nothing.
3 out of 10
It's good to fall asleep to this movie. Seriously.
A researcher of either sound vibrations or paranormal phenomena goes to an abandoned metro station, where she allegedly repeatedly saw a ghost. Walking on this station takes up almost 90% of screen time. Yes, the specialist just walks on it, shines a flashlight, regularly falls asleep, posts a blog, something like sees, someone like meets. Concrete walls, flooded toilets, flashing light bulbs, garbage, wires, graffiti ...
All this is accompanied by a monotonous soundtrack - either industrial noise, or avant-garde ambient dark, or early musical experiments of Brian Eno. This soundtrack, by the way, creates a kind of atmosphericity. You can say that he has a supporting role here.
Sometimes Christopher Lloyd appears, but nothing crazy in the spirit of Doc Brown does not give, and causes only a slight nostalgia for the times when the trees were large. So the actor is calling. His character sums up nothing.
The finale is not cathartic. The stated (quite trivial) riddles are only partially solved in it. There are still a number of unnoticed questions, the answer to which, after 1.5 hours of despondency, you no longer want to know.
Acting? Come on. There would be nowhere for DiCaprio to turn around. Maybe it would add to your emotions.
Summary
The directorial debut of a little-known actress and producer. Mystical art house. It's a boring story. No dynamic. It's banal. Unemotional. Recommended as a sleeping pill.
It’s not a bad mystery thriller, though a bit long. The dark surroundings and monotonous musical accompaniment set the tone for the film. The scientific study of sound waves and how they can affect human consciousness also seemed interesting.
Immediately I would like to note that if you are waiting for some dynamic development of the plot or just a thrash with a lot of bloody scenes, it is better not even start watching it. It's just not there. Moreover, the plot is so long in places that you can even fall asleep. I would also like to note the flawed scenario. For example, it is not explained what exactly the policeman wanted (if he is a real police officer at all) from the main character. The storyline of a woman who threw herself under a train at the beginning of the film was also left unexplained. It is simply mentioned in passing.
But the very idea of the film, and the denouement, although originality and does not shine, is still not bad.
I would like to single out Michael Eklund from the actors, in the sense that for the first time I see him as a less adequate person. Before that, he was mostly playing crazy. Christopher Lloyd is just here to check the box. I was in the middle of a project, so to speak! Well, Rose McGowan quite tolerably plays the role of the average heroine, with a psychological trauma from childhood. As it is now, apparently, fashionable in horror.
In general, it turned out quite watchable, average thriller, which has the right to exist. And in any case, he is better than a huge pile of similar slashers about a poorly motivated maniac with a chainsaw, a knife, etc. and his brainless victims.