Writer / director Brendan Devane‘s supernatural horror film “The Sound” is a spectacular misfire that manages to be neither scary nor exciting. I take no pleasure in ragging on smaller films, but this one is so incompetent it almost feels like a parody. I have absolutely zero positive comments to relay about this disaster.
The story is as bare bones as they come. After being granted access to a mysterious rock face called the Forbidden Wall, a group of elite mountain climbers faces an ancient evil along the way. Their adventure expedition turns into a battle for survival, and it doesn’t look like it will end well.
In addition to a too-basic story, the production values are shockingly poor. The “climbing” scenes look like they were filmed with the actors standing a few feet off the ground, robbing the film of any sense of danger or scale. The plot repeats the same tired beats of characters arguing, hearing creepy noises, and dying in uninspired ways. The performances from the cast range from bland to outright embarrassing, with none of the actors bringing any depth or believability to their one-note roles.
Worst of all, Devane stretches his meager premise far beyond breaking point. Instead of suspense, he delivers long stretches of pointless bickering and clumsy attempts at jump scares that fall flat every single time. By the halfway point, it’s clear the film has no story to tell. It’s an overly long chore of bad green screen climbing shots and endless close-ups of terrified faces.
If you’re looking for a fun horror-thriller with breathtaking mountain climbing stunts, this isn’t it. “The Sound” is not even “so bad it’s good.” It’s just bad. Painfully, boringly bad.
By: Louisa Moore
Screen Zealots 