In short: The Sound (2017)

Warning: there will be spoilers!

Kelly Johansen (Rose McGowan) debunks supernatural occurrences for the pleasure of the Internet. Her pet theory explains those sightings of ghosts and ghoulies that aren’t hoaxes as hallucinations caused by low frequency sound waves. That’s what she expects to uncover when she visits an abandoned subway station in beautiful Toronto where the ghost of a woman is supposed to cause a bit of havoc to those daring to visit.

However, the place is worse than Kelly expected. It’s not just full of low frequency sound waves so extreme they could actually kill somebody – Kelly’s so stubborn when it comes to her debunking she still camps there even when headaches and nosebleeds start, mind you – our heroine experiences strange encounters and apparitions that seem closely connected to something terrible happening in her past concerning her sister.

I’ve not heard much good about Jenna Mattison’s The Sound, but I think it’s a perfectly decent little film. The acting – apart from McGowan, there’s also a smallish appearance by Christopher Lloyd who is really getting into his creepy elderly man persona – isn’t particularly loud or exciting, but quiet and generally competent. The script (also by Mattison) certainly manages to sell its big twist much better than many another low or high budget horror film, mainly because the twist here is actually important to establish the meaning of the story. And yes, the film actually has something to say about its main character. While I got what the film was going for there, I wasn’t quite as convinced of Kelly’s mandatory turn from sceptic to full-on believer. That turn is by now too much of a cliché, and it certainly doesn’t help the film’s case that Kelly in the end doesn’t just become more open-minded about supernatural things but turns into the kind of gal who bloviates about helpful spirits leading one to the light. Which doesn’t really fit what she went through: that was amateur trauma confrontation therapy made by ghosts.

As a horror film, The Sound does work okay – there are a handful of effective fright scenes beside another handful of much too obvious ones, while Mattison does establish the subway station as a frightening and strange place effectively enough to keep one’s interest up for the running time.


While all this isn’t exactly a high recommendation, I think The Sound does have enough enjoyable moments to certainly be worth a watch. How very Canadian of it.