Music and violence brutally intertwine in this visceral slasher film from writer-director Alex Noyer. Music has long been a source of inspiration for Noyer; he previously produced the music documentary 808 and directed the short film Conductor, his first foray into combining music and horror. Sound of Violence, Noyer’s feature debut, expands upon the central concept of Conductor—music transformed into gruesome instruments of murder.
Sound of Violence opens with a young, deaf Alexis (Kamia Benge) regaining her hearing after a traumatic childhood experience in which Alexis kills her violent father. In that moment, she feels a kind of euphoria as her hearing suddenly returns alongside synesthesia, a phenomenon that causes Alexis to see sound in radiant bursts of colour—not all sound, but rather sounds associated with violence. Alexis’ rapt expression when paramedics arrive to assess the bloody scene and ask if she’s okay sparks an ominous warning of Alexis’ dark path, which finds her resorting to extreme measures in the future to experience that intoxicating violence-induced synesthesia again.
Years later, adult Alexis (played by The Leftovers’ Jasmin Savoy Brown) is a DJ and college sound engineer student living with her best friend, Marie (Lili Simmons), for whom Alexis harbours romantic feelings. Alexis engages Marie’s help with her sound experiment in which she records sounds of violence—secretly hoping for another dose of synesthesia—but Alexis is dissatisfied with the results of a hired dominatrix and her client, who reaches his limits well below the threshold Alexis requires. Her frustration is palpable.
The viewer is fully aware of the direction Alexis is heading and yet is in no way prepared for the particular gore and shock value Noyer manifests as Alexis uses music to murder her victims and record the sounds, riding the high of synesthesia while already craving her next dose. It’s portrayed like an addiction Alexis succumbs to, fracturing her few relationships as she spirals deeper into a violent abyss. Slasher fans who revel in gore, a staple of the genre, will admire Noyer’s disturbingly inspired gory creations, all of which derive from music and musical instruments. I won’t expand further as it would be a shame to spoil the gruesome fun, but needless to say there are some creative, stomach-churning sequences not for the faint of heart.
Visual effects and Noyer’s attention to visual details shine through in the film. Beyond the gore, the visual rendering of Alexis’ colourful synesthesia is particularly well-crafted, the bursts of shifting colours magically captivating the viewer and overwhelming Alexis’ senses in a gorgeous palette. It almost invites us to bask in euphoric bliss along with Alexis, if it weren’t for the grisly means and horrifying accompaniment. Electronic music beats interweave with the gruesome sounds of instruments stabbing and ripping flesh, the colours of synesthesia soaring to new heights through different patterns and colour combinations. While we empathize with Alexis’ intense desire to experience the wondrous beauty of synesthesia again and again, we cannot root for her to achieve it given the steep cost.
Alexis is the antagonist of her own story, her ghastly deeds sending the police after her trail, the viewer hoping they catch her. While we recognize that Alexis has been shaped in part by her childhood trauma, the film only scratches the surface of Alexis’ character, in particular her inner conflicts with herself, her father and the trauma of her past. Instead, Sound of Violence often focuses more on the creative concept of the film and employing visual details to maximum effect. These aspects are absolutely important and make for an exciting viewing experience, however the film and the viewer would benefit from added depth of character. It would build more layers into Alexis’ character (as well as Marie, for that matter) and provide deeper insight into Alexis’ struggle to cope with her past. That said, Savoy Brown gives a wonderful performance portraying Alexis’ descent into a disturbed serial killer. Savoy Brown will continue her foray into horror in the upcoming Scream revival.
Noyer’s Sound of Violence premiered at this year’s SXSW film festival in the Midnighters section and will become available for On Demand streaming on May 21st.
Score: B-
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