The Sound

As soon as Rose McGowan (the central character) enters the lower level of a Toronto subway station, the film sinks lower than the station could ever sink. Stink rhymes with sink. This film is a boring, confusing mish-mash that never makes much sense. The scariest part of the movie is the ending, which is a set up for a sequel! Terrifying!

Loved the idea for 'The Sound', which for recent modest to low budget film viewings was one that was really quite creative. Executed right, 'The Sound' had potential to be quite decent. The cover/poster/advertising was attention grabbing and does make one want to see the film. Christopher Lloyd too is always watchable, despite being in a lot of bad projects in recent years.

It is unfortunate that 'The Sound' was yet another great potential waste, which is both frustrating and annoying. It doesn't come anywhere near close to being as attention grabbing as the cover/poster/advertising, makes a creative concept dull and ordinary and Lloyd is much better than this. Really wanted to like 'The Sound', but couldn't do it with such underwhelming execution of almost every component. Not all of them, but all but a few.

Rose McGowan is competent and Lloyd gives his limited character and screen time a lot of gusto.

First third of 'The Sound' is intriguing and creepy and some of the photography is atmospheric and slick enough.

The rest of the acting is not worth mentioning, Michael Eklund in particular spends the whole time looking like he was recovering from a hangover. The characters are sketchy at best and there is just nothing interesting or investable about them. Photography aside, 'The Sound' looks drab and like it was made in haste.

Dialogue is very stilted and muddled, the direction is pedestrian and after a promising start, the intrigue and suspense goes and the story for the rest of the film is a mess of incoherence, with too many things being vague, silliness and dreary pacing, complete with a rushed and petered out ending.

In summary, pretty weak. 3/10 Bethany Cox

The Sound otherwise known as Paranormal: White Noise is a dreadful ghost themed horror.

Starring Rose McGowen, the excellent career villain Michael Eklund and industry legend Christopher Lloyd it tells the story of a supernatural debunker who finds more than she expected on her latest case.

The moody dark setting is great and was rather unexpected, but that's where the redeeming qualities both begin and end.

The plot quickly falls into the realms of stupidity, cliched unadulterated stupidity. You know what's worse than a stupid plot? A stupid plot that is riddled with plot holes, inconsistencies and unanswered questions.

I've seen some poor horrors lately but The Sound truly takes the title as the worst. With Lloyds minimal screen time, all the questions regarding Eklunds place in the film and McGowans botox being so excessive she's unable to shift facial expression throughout it's made that much worse.

This is a sound not worth hearing.

The Good:

Decent setting

Lloyd and Eklund

The Bad:

Plot holes

Incredibly boring

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Christopher Lloyd must be doing a Robert Englund and be paying back to the industry to agree to do a film like this

With those new lips McGowan has the acting range of Kristen Stewart

I'd love to do that job, professional debunker!

This film is dull, cliché, messy, over long, nonsensical and, worst of all, unscary. I watched it to the end but it was all I could do to stay awake, let alone engage with this film. I can only think that Christopher Lloyd was in this film as a favour for a friend or needed to finance a loft conversion or something similar.

Not really worth your time.

I like to think of watching horror movies like going on first dates: Does it have a likable personality? Is the memory of this film going to stay with me till the next night? Is it something I can go back to watching and still enjoy?

With The Sound, the only thing I'm left with is the thought of what it could have been. I could not be disappointed if I didn't have somewhat high expectations for it. The title is sufficient to pique my interest. I would have been satisfied if this was about a particular creepy sound. So many horror movies rely on visuals that it would be very refreshing.

It starts out promising: a campy little story with likable faces. But you soon realize it runs far too long for the punches it packs, which are barely a handful. Your mind starts working overtime to entertain you where the movie fails to, which includes not only imagining how different scares could be built up where there aren't any, but also poking fun at the vague and rushed plot. All this makes the movie a disappointing watch.